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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 4th and December 11th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our special contest for HOLDING THE FORT, the opening installment in Regina Jennings' historical romance series, Fort Reno. Ten readers will win a copy of the book, which Publishers Weekly calls "a delightful story of love against the odds." The deadline for your entries is Tuesday, December 19th at noon ET.
Also, we encourage you to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests for an opportunity to win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. And please be sure to vote in our latest poll, which asks if you are planning to give books as gifts this holiday season.
Finally, be on the lookout for our very special End-of-the-Year contest featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2017. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 40 books, while eight other winners will receive a selection of five of these titles. The contest will go live this Friday, December 8th at noon ET.
For those of you who are doing online shopping --- including shopping for gifts --- 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: Our Special Contest for
HOLDING THE FORT by Regina Jennings
We have 10 copies of HOLDING THE FORT, the first installment in Regina Jennings' Fort Reno historical romance series, to give away to readers who would like to read the book, which is now available, and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Tuesday, December 19th at noon ET.
HOLDING THE FORT: The Fort Reno Series, Book One by Regina Jennings (Historical Romance)
Dance hall singer Louisa Bell has always lived one step from destitution. When she loses her job at the Cat-Eye Saloon, she has nowhere else to go but to her brother, a cavalry soldier stationed in Indian Territory. But he's run afoul of his commanding officer. Unsure what she can do to help him and desperate for a job, she doesn't protest when she's mistaken for a governess at the fort. How hard can teaching really be?
Major Daniel Adams has his hands full at Fort Reno, especially raising two adolescent daughters alone. If this new governess doesn't work out, his mother-in-law insists she'll raise the girls herself --- far away from the fort. Miss Bell bears little resemblance to Daniel's notion of a governess --- they're not supposed to be so blamed pretty --- but he finds himself turning a blind eye to her unconventional methods. Louisa has never faced so important a performance. Can she keep her act together long enough to help her brother and to secure the respectable future she's sought for so long?
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of December 4th in Hardcover
December 5th
ALIVE IN SHAPE AND COLOR: 17 Paintings by Great Artists and the Stories They Inspired edited by Lawrence Block (Mystery/Short Stories)
Any number of artists have produced evocative work, paintings that could trigger a literary response. But none came to mind who could equal Edward Hopper in turning out canvas after canvas. If no single artist could take Hopper’s place, how about a full palette of them? Suppose each author was invited to select a painting from the whole panoply of visual art. In artists ranging from Art Frahm and Norman Rockwell to René Magritte and Clifford Still, the impressive concept goes on to include Thomas Pluck, Sarah Weinman, David Morrell, Craig Ferguson, Joe R. Lansdale, Jill D. Block, Justin Scott, Jonathan Santlofer, Gail Levin, Nicholas Christopher and Lee Child, with each story accompanied in color by the work of art that inspired it.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775616
BEAU DEATH: A Peter Diamond Investigation by Peter Lovesey (Mystery)
A wrecking crew is demolishing a row of townhouses when they uncover a skeleton in one of the attics. The dead man is wearing authentic 1760s garb, and on the floor next to it is a white tricorn hat --- the ostentatious signature accessory of Beau Nash, a fashion icon who some say ended up in a pauper’s grave. Or did the Beau actually end up in a townhouse attic? Chief Inspector Peter Diamond, who has been assigned to identify the remains, begins to fantasize about turning Nash scholarship on its ear. But one of his constables is stubbornly insisting the corpse can’t be Nash’s and threatens to spoil Diamond’s favorite theory, especially when he offers some pretty irrefutable evidence.
Soho Crime | 9781616959050
BLOOD TRUTH: A Rick Cahill Novel by Matt Coyle (Hard-boiled Mystery/Thriller)
Rick Cahill has long feared the truth about his own blood --- the blood of his father coursing through his veins. When a long-hidden safe unlocks clues about why his father was kicked off the police force 27 years ago and then spiraled into an early drunken death, Rick determines to find the truth even if it proves the one thing he's always feared. But as he grapples with his father's past, the woman he still loves pleads with him to find out if her husband is having an affair --- or is involved in something much more sinister. Could the truth send her back into Rick’s arms? Would he have a last shot at happiness? He may never get the chance to find out, as killers who will do anything to protect their secrets lurk in the shadows.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608092390
BRYANT & MAY: WILD CHAMBER: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler (Mystery)
Helen Forester takes her West Highland terrier for a walk in her street’s private garden. But minutes later she is dead, strangled yet peacefully laid out on the path, her dog nowhere to be found. The only other person in the locked space is the gardener, who finds the body and calls the police. He expects proper cops to arrive, but what he gets are Bryant, May and the wily members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Before the detectives can make any headway on the case, a second woman is discovered in a public park, murdered in nearly identical fashion. Bryant and May have to think and act fast to save innocent lives, the fate of the city’s parks, and the very existence of the PCU.
Bantam | 9781101887066
CHAINED: A Kate Turner, DVM, Mystery by Eileen Brady (Mystery)
Everyone in the charming Hudson Valley town of Oak Falls expected Flynn Keegan, their handsome blond "Golden Boy," to make it big in Hollywood. So when veterinarian Kate Turner identifies a bone dug up by one of her dog patients as human, no one thinks back 10 years to remember Flynn. Until DNA and a smashed skull prove he was murdered. With few clues available to the forensic team, the grieving family begs Kate to investigate. His four closest friends plead ignorance. Neighbors and teachers remember the charismatic young man but offer no real help. Meanwhile, Kate is juggling her eccentric house call clients, a silly pot-bellied pig wedding and the sudden reappearance of an old college boyfriend.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464209536
CLOSE TO ME by Amanda Reynolds (Psychological Thriller)
When Jo Harding falls down the stairs at home, she wakes up in the hospital with partial amnesia. In fact, she finds that she's lost an entire year of memories, and she can't remember anything that happened the night she fell. Her husband and her two children assure her that everything's fine, but Jo's family seems to have gone through a lot of dramatic changes in the past year, and she can't let go of the suspicion that there's more they're keeping from her. As she pieces together the details of the past 12 months, it becomes more and more clear that her family wants her to stay in the dark. But why?
Quercus | 9781681440316
THE DEMON CROWN: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins (Thriller/Adventure)
Off the coast of Brazil, a team of scientists discovers a horror like no other, an island where all life has been eradicated, consumed and possessed by a species beyond imagination. Before they can report their discovery, a mysterious agency attacks the group, killing all but one --- Professor Ken Matsui, an expert on venomous creatures. Strangest of all, this inexplicable threat traces back to a terrifying secret buried a century ago beneath the National Mall: a cache of bones preserved in amber. The artifact was hidden away by a cabal of scientists --- led by Alexander Graham Bell --- to protect humankind. But they dared not destroy it, for the object also holds an astonishing promise for the future: the very secret of life after death.
William Morrow | 9780062381736
ENCHANTRESS OF NUMBERS: A Novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini (Historical Fiction)
The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada Byron King was destined for fame long before her birth. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada’s mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathematics and science. Any troubling spark of imagination --- or worse yet, passion or poetry --- is promptly extinguished. Or so her mother believes. When Ada is introduced into London society as a highly eligible young heiress, she at last discovers the intellectual and social circles she has craved all her life. Little does she realize that her delightful new friendship with inventor Charles Babbage will shape her destiny.
Dutton | 9781101985205
THE GIRL IN THE TOWER by Katherine Arden (Historical Fantasy)
Vasilisa has grown up at the edge of a Russian wilderness, where snowdrifts reach the eaves of her family’s wooden house and there is truth in the fairy tales told around the fire. Her gift for seeing what others do not won her the attention of Morozko --- Frost, the winter demon from the stories --- and together they saved her people from destruction. But Frost’s aid comes at a cost, and her people have condemned her as a witch. So Vasilisa opts to dress herself as a boy and sets off astride her magnificent stallion. But after she prevails in a skirmish with bandits, the Grand Prince of Moscow anoints her a hero for her exploits. Before she can untangle herself from Moscow’s intrigues, Vasilisa will also confront an even graver threat lying in wait for all of Moscow itself.
Del Rey | 9781101885963
GLASS TOWN by Steven Savile (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
In 1924, two brothers both loved Eleanor Raines, a promising young actress from the East End of London. She disappeared during the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s debut, Number 13, which itself is now lost. It was the crime of the age, capturing the imagination of the city. Generations have passed. Everyone involved is long dead. But even now, their dark, twisted secret threatens to tear the city apart. Joshua Raines is about to enter a world of macabre beauty, of glittering celluloid and the silver screen, of illusion and deception, of impossibly old gangsters and the fiendish creatures they command, and most frighteningly of all, of genuine magic. He is about to enter Glass Town.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250077837
THE ICE HOUSE by Laura Lee Smith (Fiction)
Johnny MacKinnon might be on the verge of losing it all. The ice factory he married into, which he’s run for decades, is facing devastating OSHA fines following a mysterious accident and may have to close. The only hope for Johnny’s livelihood is that someone in the community saw something, but no one seems to be coming forward. He hasn’t spoken to his son Corran back in Scotland since Corran’s heroin addiction finally drove Johnny to the breaking point. And now, after a collapse on the factory floor, it appears Johnny may have a brain tumor. But this may be his last chance to bridge the gap with Corran --- and to have any sort of relationship with the baby granddaughter he’s never met.
Grove Press | 9780802127082
IMPROV NATION: How We Made a Great American Art by Sam Wasson (Entertainment/History)
At the height of the McCarthy era, an experimental theater troupe set up shop in a bar near the University of Chicago. Via word of mouth, astonished crowds packed the ad-hoc venue to see its unscripted, interactive, consciousness-raising style. From this unlikely seed grew the Second City, the massively influential comedy theater troupe, and its offshoots --- the Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, “SNL” and a slew of others. Sam Wasson charts the meteoric rise of improv in this richly reported, scene-driven narrative that, like its subject, moves fast and digs deep.
Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544557208
INSIDIOUS INTENT by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
In the north of England, single women are beginning to disappear from weddings. A pattern soon becomes clear: Someone is crashing the festivities and luring the women away --- only to leave the victims’ bodies in their own burned-out cars in remote locations. Psychologist Tony Hill and former police detective Carol Jordan are called upon to investigate, but this may be the toughest case they’ve ever had to face. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Paula McIntyre and her partner Elinor must deal with a cruel cyber-blackmailer targeting their teenage ward, Torin.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802127167
LONDON'S TRIUMPH: Merchants, Adventurers, and Money in Shakespeare's City by Stephen Alford (History)
For most, England in the 16th century was the era of the Tudors, from Henry VII and VIII to Elizabeth I. But as their dramas played out at court, England was being transformed economically by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. At the start of the century, England was hardly involved in the wider world and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed, something extraordinary happened, which placed London at the center of the world stage forever.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781620408216
THE MACEDONIAN by Nicholas Guild (Historical Fiction)
On a cold, snow-swept night in the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, a son is born to the king’s principal wife. His mother hates him for being his father’s child. His father hardly notices him. With two elder brothers, obscurity seems his destiny. The boy is sent off to be nursed by the chief steward’s wife. Yet, in a moment of national crisis, when Macedon is on the verge of being torn apart, the prince raised by a servant finds himself proclaimed the king. This is the story of Philip, prince and king, the forgotten boy who rose to save his country and became a legend in his own lifetime. His extensive military conquests across the Greek peninsula would pave the way for expansion under his son, Alexander the Great.
Forge Books | 9780765378460
MISSISSIPPI ROLL: A Wild Cards Novel edited by George R. R. Martin (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Now on its final voyage, the historical steamboat Natchez is known for her super-powered guest entertainers. But after the suspicious death of a crew member, retired New York police detective Leo Storgman decides to make this incident his personal case. His findings only lead to a growing number of questions. Is there some truth behind the ghostly sightings of the steamboat’s first captain, Wilbur Leathers? What secret does the current captain seem to be hiding? And could the Natchez be ferrying mysterious --- and possibly dangerous --- cargo onboard?
Tor Books | 9780765390523
NIGHTBLIND by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
Ari Thor Arason is a local policeman who has an uneasy relationship with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland --- where no one locks their doors. The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by a murder. One of Ari’s colleagues is gunned down at point-blank range in the dead of night in a deserted house. With a killer on the loose and the dark Arctic waters closing in, it falls to Ari Thor to piece together a puzzle that involves a new mayor and a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik. It becomes all too clear that tragic events from the past are weaving a sinister spell that may threaten them all.
Minotaur Books | 9781250096098
NO TIME TO SPARE: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin (Essays)
Ursula K. Le Guin has taken readers to imaginary worlds for decades. Now she’s in the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where her voice --- sharp, witty, as compassionate as it is critical --- shines. NO TIME TO SPARE collects the best of Ursula’s blog, presenting perfectly crystallized dispatches on what matters to her now, her concerns with this world, and her wonder at it.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328661593
ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING by David Moody (Thriller)
Fourteen people are trapped on Skek, a barren island in the middle of the North Sea somewhere between the coasts of the UK and Denmark. Over the years this place has served many purposes, but one by one its inhabitants have abandoned its inhospitable shores. Today it’s home to Hazleton Adventure Experiences, an extreme sports company specializing in corporate team building events. A momentary lapse leads to a tragic accident, but when the body count quickly starts to rise, questions are inevitably asked. A horrific discovery changes everything, and a trickle of rumors becomes a tsunami of fear. Is this the beginning of the end of everything, or a situation constructed by the mass hysteria of a handful of desperate and terrified people?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250108418
ONE STATION AWAY by Olaf Olafsson (Fiction)
An overlooked pianist who finally receives fraught success after decades of disappointment. An elusive dancer whose untimely death her fiancé is desperate to untangle. A mysterious patient who is comatose after a violent accident. These are the three women who animate ONE STATION AWAY. Magnus, a New York neurologist --- son to one, lover to another, and doctor to a third --- is the thread that binds these women’s stories together as he navigates relationships defined by compromise and misunderstanding, guilt and forgiveness, and, most of all, by an obsessive attempt to communicate --- to understand and to be understood, to love and to be loved.
Ecco | 9780062677488
PEN 33 by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström (Thriller)
Bernt Lund is a monster, an unrepentant child molester and serial killer. In the mind of society, in the minds of his nine-year-old victims' parents, and in the minds of his fellow inmates, he is a waking nightmare. And now he has escaped from custody. Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens is about to encounter the most profoundly appalling case in his career, and perhaps in Stockholm's history. During the course of one long, hot summer, Sweden will face an explosive series of events that spread across the country like wildfire, events that call into question the very nature of humanity, duty, forgiveness and self-defense. And justice.
Quercus | 9781681440132
RAVENSPUR: Rise of the Tudors by Conn Iggulden (Historical Fiction)
King Edward of York has been driven out of England. Queen Elizabeth and her children tremble in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. The House of Lancaster has won the crown, but York will not go quietly. Desperate to reclaim his throne, Edward lands at Ravenspur with a half-drowned army and his brother Richard at his side. Every hand is against them, every city gate is shut, yet the brothers York go on the attack. But neither sees that their true enemy is Henry Tudor, now grown into a man. As the Red Dragon --- “the man of destiny” --- his claim to the throne leads to Bosworth Field and a battle that will bring an end to the Wars of the Roses.
Pegasus Books | 9781681776859
THE SABOTEUR: The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando by Paul Kix (Biography)
Robert de La Rochefoucald was a scion of one of the most storied families in France. When the Nazis invaded and imprisoned his father, La Rochefoucald escaped to England and learned the dark arts of anarchy and combat from the officers of Special Operations Executive, the collection of British spies who altered the war in Europe with tactics that earned it notoriety as the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” With his newfound skills, La Rochefoucauld returned to France and organized Resistance cells, blew up fortified compounds and munitions factories, interfered with Germans’ war-time missions, and executed Nazi officers. THE SABOTEUR recounts La Rochefoucauld’s enthralling adventures.
Harper | 9780062322524
SPY OF THE FIRST PERSON by Sam Shepard (Fiction)
SPY OF THE FIRST PERSON tells the story of an unnamed narrator who traces his memories of work, adventure and travel as he undergoes medical tests and treatments for a condition that is rendering him more and more dependent on the loved ones who are caring for him. The narrator’s memories and preoccupations often echo those of our current moment --- for here are stories of immigration and community, inclusion and exclusion, suspicion and trust. But at the book’s core, and his, is family --- his relationships with those he loved, and with the natural world around him.
Knopf | 9780525521563
STRONG TO THE BONE: A Caitlin Strong Novel by Jon Land (Thriller)
1944: Texas Ranger Earl Strong investigates a triple murder inside a Nazi POW camp in Texas. The Present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself pursuing the killer her father never caught in the most personal case of her career --- a conspiracy stretching from that Nazi POW camp to a modern-day neo-Nazi gang. A sinister movement has emerged from the shadows of history, determined to undermine the American way of life. Its leader, Armand Fisker, has an army at his disposal, a deadly bio-weapon, and a reputation for being unbeatable. To prevent an unspeakable cataclysm, Caitlin and her outlaw lover, Cort Wesley Masters, must win a war the world thought was over.
Forge Books | 9780765384645
THREE DAUGHTERS OF EVE by Elif Shafak (Fiction)
Peri, a married, wealthy, beautiful Turkish woman, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground --- an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor. Peri arrives at the party and navigates the tensions that simmer in this crossroads country between East and West, religious and secular, rich and poor. Over the course of the dinner, and amidst an opulence that is surely ill-begotten, terrorist attacks occur across the city. Competing in Peri's mind, however, are the memories invoked by her almost-lost polaroid, of the time years earlier when she was sent abroad for the first time, to attend Oxford University.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781632869951
THE VANISHING SEASON by Joanna Schaffhausen (Mystery/Thriller)
Ellery Hathaway knows a thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training. She's an officer in sleepy Woodbury, MA, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim #17 in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben --- the only one who lived. When three people disappear from her town in three years, all around her birthday, Ellery fears someone knows her secret --- someone very dangerous. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a killer all those years ago.
Minotaur Books | 9781250126047
A WAR IN CRIMSON EMBERS by Alex Marshall (Fantasy/Adventure)
Former warrior queen and now pariah, Cold Zosia wakes in the ashes of a burning city. Her vengeance has brought her to this --- her heroic reputation in tatters, her allies scattered far and wide, and her world on the cusp of ruin. General Ji-Hyeon has vanished into the legendary First Dark, leaving her lover Sullen alone to carry out the grim commands of a dead goddess. The barbarian Maroto is held captive by a demonic army hell-bent on the extermination of the Crimson Empire, and only his protégé Purna believes he can be saved. Zosia must rally her comrades and old enemies one last time, for what will prove the greatest battle of her many legends...if anyone lives to tell it.
Orbit | 9780316340724
YEAR ONE: Chronicles of the One, Book 1 by Nora Roberts (Paranormal Fantasy)
It began on New Year’s Eve. The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered, law and government collapsed --- and more than half of the world’s population was decimated. As the power of science and technology receded, magick rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere. In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250122957
YOU CAN RUN by Steve Mosby (Psychological Thriller)
When a car crashes into a garage on an ordinary street, the attending officer is shocked to look inside the damaged building and discover a woman imprisoned within. As the remains of several other victims are found in the attached house, police believe they have finally identified the Red River Killer --- a man who has been abducting women for nearly 20 years and taunting the police with notes about his crimes. But now the main suspect, John Blythe, is on the run. As the manhunt for Blythe intensifies, Detective Inspector Will Turner finds himself fighting to stay involved in the investigation. The Red River killings hold a personal significance to him, and he must be the one to find the killer.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775586
On Sale the Week of December 4th in Paperback
December 5th
THE ANTIQUES by Kris D'Agostino (Fiction)
On the night of a massive hurricane, three estranged siblings learn that their father is dying. For the first time in years, they convene at their childhood home, where the storm has downed power lines, flooded houses, and destroyed the family’s antique store. Armie is living in their parents’ basement. In Manhattan, Josef, a sex-addicted techie, is struggling to repair his broken relationship with his daughters. Their sister, Charlie, who works in Hollywood as a publicist for a wayward young actress, just learned that her son has been expelled from preschool. Amid the storm, they come together to plan their father’s memorial service, only to learn his dying wish --- they must sell his priceless Magritte painting.
Scribner | 9781501138980
THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL by Timothy B. Tyson (History)
In 1955, a 14-year-old black boy named Emmett Till was murdered by a group of white men. He had gone into a small country store a few days earlier and made flirtatious remarks to a white woman, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant; Bryant’s husband and brother-in-law were two of Till’s attackers. THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL revises the history of the Till case, not only changing the specifics that we thought we knew, but showing how the murder ignited the modern civil rights movement. Timothy Tyson uses a wide range of new sources, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant; the transcript of the murder trial, missing since 1955 and only recovered in 2005; and a recent FBI report on the case.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476714851
CRUSADER ONE: A Tier One Thriller by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Nothing stops former Navy SEAL and Tier One operator John Dempsey from answering the call of duty --- including a mission with the highest stakes he’s ever faced. When one of the most brazen and lethal acts of terrorism rocks American and Israeli intelligence forces at the highest levels, Dempsey’s ultracovert antiterror unit, Ember, mobilizes. But this operation isn’t just a retaliatory strike by Ember; it’s a mission of vengeance for Dempsey --- against the Iranian terrorist mastermind who slaughtered Dempsey’s Tier One comrades. Racing from Tel Aviv to Tehran, the elite American warrior and his formidable Israeli counterpart must forsake their backup in a capture-or-kill gambit that could turn into a suicide run.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781477809051
CURTAIN OF DEATH: A Clandestine Operations Novel by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
January 1946: Two WACs leave an officers’ club in Munich, and four Soviet NKGB agents kidnap them at knifepoint in the parking lot and shove them in the back of an ambulance. That is the agents’ first mistake, and their last. One of the WACs, a blond woman improbably named Claudette Colbert, works for the new Directorate of Central Intelligence, and three of the men end up dead and the fourth wounded. The “incident,” however, will send shock waves rippling up and down the line and have major repercussions not only for her, but for her boss, James Cronley, Chief DCI-Europe, and for everybody involved in their still-evolving enterprise.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780735212268
THE DARK ROOM by Jonathan Moore (Thriller)
Gavin Cain, an SFPD homicide inspector, is in the middle of an exhumation when his phone rings. San Francisco’s mayor is being blackmailed and has ordered Cain back to the city; a helicopter is on its way. The casket, and Cain’s cold-case investigation, must wait. At City Hall, the mayor shows Cain four photographs he’s received: the first, an unforgettable blonde; the second, pills and handcuffs on a nightstand; the third, the woman drinking from a flask; and last, the woman naked, unconscious and shackled to a bed. The accompanying letter is straightforward: worse revelations are on the way unless the mayor takes his own life first.
Mariner Books | 9781328745569
DEATH’S MISTRESS: Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles, Volume I by Terry Goodkind (Fantasy)
One-time lieutenant of the evil Emperor Jagang, known as “Death’s Mistress” and the “Slave Queen,” the deadly Nicci captured Richard Rahl in order to convince him that the Imperial Order stood for the greater good. But it was Richard who converted Nicci instead, and for years thereafter she served Richard and Kahlan as one of their closest friends --- and one of their most lethal defenders. Now, with the reign of Richard and Kahlan finally stabilized, Nicci has set out on her own for new adventures. One of her jobs will be to keep her traveling companion, the unworldly prophet Nathan, out of trouble. But her real task will be to scout the far reaches of Richard Rahl’s realm.
Tor Fantasy | 9780765388230
DANGEROUS GAMES by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Television correspondent Alix Phillips dodges bullets and breaks rules to bring the most important news to the world --- from riots in America to protests on the streets of Tehran. With her daughter in college, and working alongside cameraman Ben Chapman, a deeply private ex–Navy SEAL, Alix revels in the risks and whirlwind pace of her work. But her latest assignment puts her at the center of an explosive story that will reshape many lives, including her own: investigating damning allegations involving the Vice President of the United States, Tony Clark.
Dell | 9781101883907
THE DEFENSE by Steve Cavanagh (Legal Thriller)
Former con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again after a case went disastrously wrong. But today Eddie doesn’t have a choice. Because this time, it’s personal. The head of the Russian mob in New York City, on trial for murder, has kidnapped Eddie’s beloved 10-year-old daughter. Now Eddie has exactly 48 hours to draw upon his razor-sharp instincts and use every con, bluff, grift and trick in the book to defend an impossible trial and save his daughter --- or die trying.
Flatiron Books | 9781250134424
DUST BOWL GIRLS: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory by Lydia Reeder (Sports/History)
Traveling from farm to farm at the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. With passion for the sport and heartfelt loyalty to one another and their coach, the Cardinals won every game. For author Lydia Reeder, this is a family story: coach Babb is her great-uncle. When her grandmother handed her a folder that contained newspaper articles, letters and photographs of Sam and the Cardinals, she said, “You might want to tell their story someday.” Now, with extensive research and the gathered memories of the surviving Cardinals, she has.
Algonquin Books | 9781616207403
ELIZABETH BISHOP: A Miracle for Breakfast by Megan Marshall (Biography)
Since her death in 1979, Elizabeth Bishop, who published only a hundred poems in her lifetime, has become one of America’s best-loved poets. And yet --- painfully shy and living out of public view in Key West and Brazil, among other hideaways --- she has never been seen so fully as a woman and an artist. Megan Marshall makes incisive and moving use of a newly discovered cache of Bishop’s letters --- to her psychiatrist and to three of her lovers --- to reveal a much darker childhood than has been known, a secret affair, and the last chapter of her passionate romance with the Brazilian modernist designer Lota de Macedo Soares.
Mariner Books | 9781328745637
ELMET by Fiona Mozley (Fiction)
Paperback Original
The family thought the little house they had made themselves in Elmet, a corner of Yorkshire, was theirs. Cathy and Daniel roamed the woods freely, occasionally visiting a local woman for some schooling, living outside all conventions. Their father built things and hunted, working with his hands; sometimes he would disappear, forced to do secret, brutal work for money, but to them he was a gentle protector. But when a local landowner shows up on their doorstep, their precarious existence is threatened. Daddy and Cathy, both of them fierce, strong and unyielding, set out to protect themselves and their neighbors, putting into motion a chain of events that can only end in violence.
Algonquin Books | 9781616208424
FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITIES: A Linda Wallheim Mystery Set in Mormon Utah by Mette Ivie Harrison (Mystery)
Mormon bishop’s wife Linda Wallheim couldn’t be more surprised to learn that her son, Kenneth, is engaged. Kenneth has left the Mormon church and met his fiancée, med student Naomi Carter, at a “Mormons Anonymous” meeting. Naomi was also raised Mormon, but her family belongs to a group that practices polygamy. Naomi’s father, Stephen, invites the Wallheims to visit the family compound. Though Stephen and his five wives seem to live normal, modern lives, Linda can’t shake the feeling that the family dynamics are off. When tensions on the compound escalate to murder, Linda delves into the many Carter family secrets to find the killer.
Soho Crime | 9781616958664
HOLDING THE FORT: The Fort Reno Series, Book One by Regina Jennings (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
When dance hall singer Louisa Bell loses her job at the Cat-Eye Saloon, she has nowhere else to go but to her brother, a cavalry soldier stationed in Indian Territory. But he's run afoul of his commanding officer. Unsure what she can do to help him and desperate for a job, she doesn't protest when she's mistaken for a governess at the fort. Major Daniel Adams has his hands full at Fort Reno, especially raising two adolescent daughters alone. Miss Bell bears little resemblance to Daniel's notion of a governess, but he finds himself turning a blind eye to her unconventional methods. Can she keep her act together long enough to help her brother and secure the respectable future she's sought for so long?
Bethany House Publishers | 9780764218934
HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD: Stories by Ottessa Moshfegh (Fiction/Short Stories)
There's something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh's stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities. HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD is a master class in the varieties of self-deception across the gamut of individuals representing the human condition. But part of the unique quality of Moshfegh’s voice is the way the grotesque and the outrageous are infused with tenderness and compassion.
Penguin Books | 9780399562907
THE KINGDOM OF SPEECH by Tom Wolfe (Social Science)
THE KINGDOM OF SPEECH is a captivating, paradigm-shifting argument that speech --- not evolution --- is responsible for humanity's complex societies and achievements. From Alfred Russel Wallace, the Englishman who beat Darwin to the theory of natural selection but later renounced it, and through the controversial work of modern-day anthropologist Daniel Everett, who defies the current wisdom that language is hard-wired in humans, Tom Wolfe examines the solemn, long-faced, laugh-out-loud zig-zags of Darwinism, old and Neo, and finds it irrelevant here in the Kingdom of Speech.
Back Bay Books | 9780316404631
A LADY IN SHADOWS: A Madeleine Karno Mystery by Lene Kaaberbøl (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
On June 2, 1894, in the wake of President Marie Francois Sadi Carnot’s assassination, France descends into chaos and riots in the streets of Varbourg. Many lives are lost in the mayhem, but when one lady of the night is found murdered with brutal incisions and no sign of a struggle, it is clear something is amiss. Madeleine Karno must ask herself the terrifying question: Do they have their very own Jack the Ripper in France? Madeleine must do whatever it takes --- investigate the darkest corners of the city and even work undercover --- to track down a murderer at large. But if there’s one thing the press has right about “Mademoiselle Death,” it’s this: it takes a woman to find a killer of women.
Atria Books | 9781476731421
NOT SAFE AFTER DARK: And Other Stories by Peter Robinson (Thriller/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
NOT SAFE AFTER DARK is a collection of 20 stories that explores the darkest edges of humanity in which everyday people must commit desperate acts as they face fear, temptation and impulses too irresistible to control. In “Going Back,” Inspector Banks’ trip to celebrate his parents’ Golden Anniversary reveals how evil can wear many disguises. In the Edgar Award-winning “Missing in Action,” the disappearance of a young boy in the early days of WWII sparks a mob mentality with chilling results. “Innocence” captures the desperate plight of a man trapped by a set of coincidences that derail his life and lead him down a path he was destined to travel. The title story is an exhilarating tale with a sudden conclusion that will leave readers’ hearts pounding.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062673893
RAGDOLL by Daniel Cole (Thriller)
William Fawkes, a controversial detective known as The Wolf, has just been reinstated to his post after he was suspended for assaulting a vindicated suspect. Still under psychological evaluation, Fawkes returns to the force eager for a big case. When his former partner and friend, Detective Emily Baxter, calls him to a crime scene, he’s sure this is it: the body is made of the dismembered parts of six victims, sewn together like a puppet --- a corpse that becomes known as “The Ragdoll.” Fawkes is tasked with identifying the six victims, but that gets dicey when his reporter ex-wife anonymously receives photographs from the crime scene, along with a list of six names, and the dates on which the Ragdoll Killer plans to murder them. The final name on the list is Fawkes.
Ecco | 9780062653963
THE RISING by Heather Graham and Jon Land (Thriller)
A football hero and homecoming king with plenty of scholarship offers, Alex Chin’s future looks bright. His tutor, Samantha Dixon, is preparing to graduate high school at the top of her class. When a football accident lands Alex in the hospital, his world is turned upside down. His doctor is murdered, followed by his parents. Death seems to follow him wherever he goes, and now it's after him. The two race desperately to stay ahead of Alex's attackers long enough to figure out why they are hunting him in the first place. The answer lies with a secret buried deep in his past, a secret his parents died to protect.
Forge Books | 9780765371126
THE ROANOKE GIRLS by Amy Engel (Psychological Thriller)
After her mother's suicide, 15-year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran. Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long-ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.
Broadway Books | 9781101906682
SAY NOTHING by Brad Parks (Legal Thriller)
Judge Scott Sampson doesn’t brag about having a perfect life, but the evidence is clear: A prestigious job. A loving marriage. A pair of healthy children. Then a phone call begins every parent’s most chilling nightmare. Scott’s six-year-old twins, Sam and Emma, have been taken. The judge must rule exactly as instructed in a drug case he is about to hear. If he refuses, the consequences for the children will be dire. For Scott and his wife Alison, the kidnapper’s call is only the beginning of a twisting, gut-churning ordeal of blackmail, deceit and terror. Through it all, they will stop at nothing to get their children back, no matter the cost to themselves…or to each other.
Dutton | 9781101985601
STONE COFFIN written by Kjell Eriksson, translated by Ebba Segerberg (Mystery)
One sunny summer morning, a young woman and her six-year-old daughter are run over by a car. Both are killed immediately. Is it an accident, or did someone kill them on purpose? The same morning, the husband of the deceased young woman disappears. During the police investigation, it turns out that the husband had recently bought a property that nobody knew anything about. A few days later, a macabre discovery is made in a forest nearby.
Minotaur Books | 9781250144676
SUPER CON by James Swain (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Master grifter Billy Cunningham has built a lucrative career conning a long list of Las Vegas casinos. In fact, he’s never walked into one he couldn’t rip off. Now he’s scheming a “super con” with a gang of high-profile cheats --- a one-time-only scam that could rake in a cool multi-million-dollar payday. All goes as planned until Chinese crime lord Broken Tooth strong-arms Billy into rigging the Super Bowl, too. Billy has no choice but to play ball. Broken Tooth has a special edge on him: blackmail. When someone on his own team betrays Billy, all bets are off. Both the super con and Super Bowl gambits are in jeopardy. And just who’s scamming who?
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542046404
THE WAKE UP by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
As he struggles to cope with a trait he’s buried since childhood, 40-year-old cattle rancher Aiden Delacorte falls in love with Gwen, a single mother whose young son bears a burden of his own. Sullen and broken from his experiences with an abusive father, Milo has turned to acting out in violent and rebellious ways. Aiden can feel the boy’s pain, as well as that of his victims. Now he and Milo must sift through their pasts to find empathy with the innocent as well as the guilty, to come to terms with their deepest fears, and to finally discover the compassionate heart of a family.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781542047951
THE WARS OF THE ROOSEVELTS: The Ruthless Rise of America's Greatest Political Family by William J. Mann (Biography)
Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the Roosevelt family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researched and groundbreaking group portrait of this legendary clan. Mann argues that the Roosevelts’ rise to power and prestige was actually driven by a series of intense personal contests that at times devolved into blood sport. THE WAR OF THE ROOSEVELTS is the story of a family at war with itself, of social Darwinism at its most ruthless --- in which the strong devoured the weak and repudiated the inconvenient.
Harper Perennial | 9780062383341
On Sale the Week of December 11th in Hardcover
December 12th
A-LIST: A Jake Longly Thriller by D.P. Lyle (Mystery/Thriller)
PI Jake Longly and Nicole Jemison head to New Orleans at the behest of Nicole's uncle, movie producer Charles Balfour, when his megastar, A-list actor Kirk Ford, awakens in his hotel bed with the body of Kristi Guidry, a local college coed. Ford, in the Big Easy for a location shoot, remembers little of the evening and nothing of the murder. And, to make matters worse, Kristi is the niece of a local mafioso-type who will do whatever is necessary to avenge her death. Surrounded by glitzy Hollywood stars and intimidated by seedy underworld characters, Jake and Nicole encounter nothing but obstacles. The clock is ticking as they struggle to decipher who's lying, who's telling the truth, and exactly who schemed to murder Kristi.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608092703
A CASE OF SYRAH, SYRAH: A Wine Country Mystery by Nancy J. Parra (Cozy Mystery)
Taylor O’Brian, the founder of “Taylor’s Off The Beaten Path Wine Tours,” lives on a small winery with her Aunt Jemma. She plans to take small groups around romantic Sonoma county to discover some of the county’s outdoor gardens. It’s all running as smooth as can be until Laura, the leader of the group of yoga instructors she’s leading, is found dead. And it’s Taylor’s corkscrew that’s found buried in Laura’s neck. Only two weeks after the murder, her very own administrative assistant, Amy, marries Laura’s husband, Dan, and the three yoga masters who were also out on the tour begin to seem shady. Just as Taylor gets her investigation underway, another dead body surfaces. This time, it’s Dan’s sister. And the killer is coming for Taylor next.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683314332
CHARLES DARWIN: Victorian Mythmaker by A. N. Wilson (Biography)
With the publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Darwin --- hailed as the man who "discovered evolution" --- was propelled into the pantheon of great scientific thinkers, alongside Galileo, Copernicus and Newton. A. N. Wilson challenges this long-held assumption. He argues that Darwin was not an original scientific thinker, but a ruthless and determined self-promoter who did not credit the many great sages whose ideas he advanced in his book. Furthermore, Wilson contends that religion and Darwinism have much more in common than it would seem, for the acceptance of Darwin's theory involves a pretty significant leap of faith.
Harper | 9780062433497
IN THE FALL THEY COME BACK by Robert Bausch (Fiction)
Ben Jameson begins his teaching career in a small private school in Northern Virginia. He is idealistic, happy to have his first job after graduate school, and hoping someday to figure out what he really wants out of life. And in his two years teaching English at Glenn Acres Preparatory School, he comes to believe this really is his life's work, his calling. He wants to change lives. But his desire to "save" his students leads him into complicated territory, as he becomes more and more deeply involved with three students in particular: an abused boy, a mute and damaged girl, and a dangerous 18-year-old who has come back to school for one more chance to graduate.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781632864000
A MURDER FOR THE BOOKS: A Blue Ridge Library Mystery by Victoria Gilbert (Cozy Mystery)
Fleeing a disastrous love affair, university librarian Amy Webber moves in with her aunt in a quiet, historic mountain town in Virginia. She quickly busies herself with managing a charming public library that requires all her attention. Dancer-turned-teacher and choreographer Richard Muir inherited the farmhouse next door from his great-uncle, Paul Dassin. But town folklore claims the house’s original owner was poisoned by his wife, who vanished after her sensational 1925 murder trial. Determined to clear the name of the woman his great-uncle loved, Richard implores Amy to help him investigate the case. Amy is skeptical until their research raises questions about the culpability of the town’s leading families...including her own.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683314394
THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD: A Memoir written by Maude Julien, translated by Adriana Hunter (Memoir)
Maude Julien's parents were fanatics who believed it was their sacred duty to turn her into the ultimate survivor --- raising her in isolation, tyrannizing her childhood and subjecting her to endless drills designed to "eliminate weakness." But they could not rule her inner life. Befriending the animals on the lonely estate as well as the characters in the novels she read in secret, young Maude nurtured in herself the compassion and love that her parents forbid as weak. And when, after more than a decade, an outsider managed to penetrate her family's paranoid world, Maude seized her opportunity.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316466622
SIGNAL LOSS: A Hal Challis Investigation by Garry Disher (Mystery)
A pair of hit men working a job for a meth kingpin have a very bad day, and the resulting bushfire draws attention to a drug lab and two burned bodies in a Mercedes. Sergeant Ellen Destry --- newly minted head of her department’s sex crime unit --- and Inspector Hal Challis return in this seventh installment of Garry Disher’s Peninsula-based crimes series. With meth-related crime on the rise, interdepartmental tensions mount, and Challis soon finds himself fighting to keep control of his case. Meanwhile, Destry is hunting for a serial rapist who is extremely adept at not leaving clues.
Soho Crime | 9781616958596
AN UNCOMMON READER: A Life of Edward Garnett, Mentor and Editor of Literary Genius by Helen Smith (Biography)
During the course of a career spanning half a century, Edward Garnett --- editor, critic and reader for hire --- would become one of the most influential men in 20th-century English literature. Known for his incisive criticism and unwavering conviction in matters of taste, Garnett was responsible for identifying and nurturing the talents of a generation of the greatest writers in the English language, from Joseph Conrad to John Galsworthy, Henry Green to Edward Thomas, T. E. Lawrence to D. H. Lawrence. In AN UNCOMMON READER, Helen Smith brings to life Garnett’s intimate and at times stormy relationships with those writers.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374281120
UNNATURAL CAUSES: A Dr. Katie LeClair Mystery by Dawn Eastman (Mystery)
Dr. Katie LeClair quickly gets to work in building a life for herself in Baxter, MI, and beyond reviving her love life, she also finds a pair of business partners in a team of father and son family practitioners. But that idyllic dream is immediately shattered when one of her patients is found dead. The death is ruled a suicide, and was a result of the medication Katie had prescribed. But she doesn't remember writing it. When a closer investigation reveals it was murder, Katie is catapulted into an off-the-books investigation that leads her down a dark path of past secrets. But someone is willing to kill to keep part of the town's history in the shadows, and Katie must race to find out who before it's too late.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683313137
WE'LL SLEEP WHEN WE'RE OLD by Pino Corrias (Psychological Thriller)
Oscar Martello, president of a film production company, is a self-made man. Despite his humble origins, he has managed to achieve unbelievable fame and success. Andrea Serrano, his best friend, is a scriptwriter who explores the themes of love and murder in his work. The beautiful actress Jacaranda Rizzi, Oscar’s muse, has a secret that has been tormenting her for many years. When a fire devastates Oscar’s villa in one of the city’s most fashionable neighborhoods and he goes missing, all of Rome is left to wonder about his fate. The evidence points to Jacaranda, but could she have orchestrated something so sinister? More important, could she have done it alone, or has Andrea played some role in the debacle?
Atria Books | 9781501144950
On Sale the Week of December 11th in Paperback
December 12th
16th SEDUCTION by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Thriller)
Fifteen months ago, Detective Lindsay Boxer's life was perfect --- she had a beautiful child and a doting husband, Joe, who helped her catch a criminal who'd brazenly detonated a bomb in downtown San Francisco. But Joe wasn't everything that Lindsay thought he was, and she's still reeling from his betrayal as a wave of mysterious heart attacks claims seemingly unrelated victims across San Francisco. As if that weren't enough, the bomber she and Joe captured is about to go on trial, and his defense raises damning questions about Lindsay and Joe's investigation. Lindsay must connect the dots of a deadly conspiracy before a brilliant criminal puts her on trial.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455542666
CROWN OF BLOOD: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey by Nicola Tallis (History)
The beheading of 17-year-old Lady Jane Grey for high treason in the year 1554 sent shockwaves through the Tudor world, and served as a gruesome reminder to all who aspired to a crown that the axe could fall at any time. Set at the time of Jane’s downfall and following her journey through to her trial and execution, each chapter in CROWN OF BLOOD moves between the past and the “present,” using a rich abundance of primary source material (some of which has never been published) in order to paint a vivid picture of Jane’s short and turbulent life.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775555
CULLODEN: Scotland's Last Battle and the Forging of the British Empire by Trevor Royle (History)
The Battle of Culloden in 1746 has gone down in history as the last major battle fought on British soil: a vicious confrontation between the English Royal Army and the Scottish forces supporting the Stuart claim to the throne. But this wasn't just a conflict between the Scots and the English; the battle was also part of a much larger campaign to protect the British Isles from the growing threat of a French invasion. In CULLODEN, we are drawn into the ranks, on both sides, alongside doomed Jacobites fighting fellow Scots dressed in the red coats of the Duke of Cumberland's Royal Army. And we meet the Duke himself, a skilled warrior who would gain notoriety because of the reprisals on Highland clans in the battle's aftermath.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775678
HEMINGWAY AT WAR: Ernest Hemingway's Adventures as a World War II Correspondent by Terry Mort (History)
In the spring of 1944, Ernest Hemingway traveled to London and then to France to cover World War II for Collier's magazine. Obviously he was a little late in arriving. Why did he go? He had resisted this kind of journalism for much of the early period of the war, but when he finally decided to go, he threw himself into the thick of events and so became a conduit to understanding some of the major events and characters of the war. HEMINGWAY AT WAR is also an investigation into Hemingway’s subsequent work --- much of it stemming from his wartime experience --- which shaped the latter stages of his career in dramatic fashion.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775623
IN THE LAND OF GIANTS: A Journey Through the Dark Ages by Max Adams (History)
The five centuries between the end of Roman Britain and the death of Alfred the Great have left few voices save a handful of chroniclers, but Britain's "Dark Ages" can still be explored through their material remnants: architecture, books, metalwork and, above all, landscapes. Max Adams explores Britain's lost early medieval past by walking its paths and exploring its lasting imprint on valley, hill and field. Each of his 10 walking narratives form free-standing chapters as well as parts of a wider portrait of a Britain of fort and fyrd, crypt and crannog, church and causeway, holy well and memorial stone.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775531
IN SUNLIGHT OR IN SHADOW: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper edited by Lawrence Block (Mystery/Short Stories)
"Edward Hopper is surely the greatest American narrative painter. His work bears special resonance for writers and readers, and yet his paintings never tell a story so much as they invite viewers to find for themselves the untold stories within." So says Lawrence Block, who has invited 17 writers to join him in an unprecedented anthology of brand-new stories. Contributors include Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Connelly, Megan Abbott, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffery Deaver and Lee Child.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775593
MAD HATTERS AND MARCH HARES: All-New Stories from the World of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland edited by Ellen Datlow (Fantasy/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
Between the hallucinogenic, weird, imaginative wordplay and the brilliant mathematical puzzles and social satire, ALICE IN WONDERLAND has been read, enjoyed and savored by every generation since its publication. Ellen Datlow asked 17 acclaimed writers to dream up stories inspired by all the strange events and surreal characters found in Wonderland. MAD HATTERS AND MARCH HARES features stories and poems from Seanan McGuire, Jane Yolen, Catherynne M. Valente, Delia Sherman, Genevieve Valentine, Priya Sharma, Stephen Graham Jones, Richard Bowes, Jeffrey Ford, Angela Slatter, Andy Duncan, C.S.E. Cooney, Matthew Kressel, Kris Dikeman, Kaaron Warren, Ysbeau Wilce and Katherine Vaz.
Tor Books | 9780765391070
THE MAN WHO SHOT OUT MY EYE IS DEAD: Stories by Chanelle Benz (Fiction/Short Stories)
A brother and sister turn outlaw in a wild and brutal landscape. The daughter of a diplomat disappears and resurfaces across the world as a deadly woman of many names. A young Philadelphia boy struggles with the contradictions of privilege, violence, and the sway of an incarcerated father. A monk in 16th-century England suffers the dissolution of his monastery and the loss of all that he held sacred. The characters in Chanelle Benz's debut share a thirst for adventure that sends them rushing full-tilt toward the moral crossroads, becoming victims and perpetrators along the way.
Ecco | 9780062490780
RACING THE DEVIL: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
During a heavy rainstorm in England, a driver loses control on a twisting road and is killed in the crash. Was it an accident due to the hazardous conditions? Or premeditated murder? Investigating this perplexing case, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge discovers that the truth is elusive --- and that the villages on the South Downs, where the accident happened, are adept at keeping secrets, frustrating his search. Determined to remain in the shadows, this faceless killer is willing to strike again to stop Rutledge from finding him. This time, the victim he chooses is a child, and it will take all of Rutledge’s skill to stop him before an innocent young life is sacrificed.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062386229
SAVAGE THEORIES written by Pola Oloixarac, translated by Roy Kesey (Fiction)
Rosa Ostreech, a pseudonym for the novel’s beautiful but self-conscious narrator, carries around a trilingual edition of Aristotle’s METAPHYSICS, struggles with her thesis on violence and culture, sleeps with a bourgeois former guerrilla, and pursues her elderly professor. Elsewhere on campus, Pabst and Kamtchowsky tour the underground scene of Buenos Aires, dabbling in ketamine, group sex, video games and hacking. And in Africa in 1917, a Dutch anthropologist named Johan van Vliet begins work on a theory that explains human consciousness and civilization by reference to our early primate ancestors --- animals, who, in the process of becoming human, spent thousands of years as prey.
Soho Press | 9781616958671
SIGNALS: New and Selected Stories by Tim Gautreaux (Fiction/Short Stories)
The people in Tim Gautreaux’s latest collection of short stories wrestle with affairs of the heart, matters of faith, and the pros and cons of tight-knit communities. They are primarily of the working class, proud and knowledgeable about the natural or mechanical world. Their lives are marked by a prized stereo or a magical sewing machine retrieved from a locked safe, boats and card games and casinos, grandparents and grandchildren and those in between, their experiences leading them to the ridiculous or the scarifying or the sublime. Most of them are striving for what's right and good, others tearing off in the opposite direction.
Vintage | 9781101972519
WHO KILLED PIET BAROL? by Richard Mason (Historical Fiction)
Piet Barol was a tutor before he came to South Africa, his wife, Stacey, an opera singer. In Cape Town they are living the high life, impersonating French aristocrats --- but their lies are catching up with them. The Barols’ furniture business is on the verge of collapse, and they need cheap, top-quality wood. Piet enlists two Xhosa men to lead him into a vast forest, in search of a fabled tree. He’s sure he’ll be able to buy what he needs for a few glass trinkets. But he’s underestimating the Xhosa, who believe the spirits of their ancestors live in this sacred forest. Battle lines are drawn. When Piet’s powers of persuasion fail him, he resorts to darker, more dangerous talents to get what he is determined to have.
Vintage | 9780804171991
A WOMAN LOOKING AT MEN LOOKING AT WOMEN: Essays on Art, Sex, and the Mind by Siri Hustvedt (Social Science/Essays)
Siri Hustvedt has always been fascinated by biology and how human perception works. She is a lover of art, the humanities and the sciences. She is a novelist and a feminist. Her lively, lucid essays in A WOMAN LOOKING AT MEN LOOKING AT WOMEN begin to make some sense of those plural perspectives. There has been much talk about building a beautiful bridge across the chasm that separates the sciences and the humanities. At the moment, we have only a wobbly walkway, but Hustvedt is encouraged by the travelers making their way across it in both directions.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501141102
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