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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 3rd and December 10th 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 December. This month's prizes are the audio versions of Diane Setterfield's ONCE UPON A RIVER, read by Juliet Stevenson, and Lisa Jewell's WATCHING YOU, read by Gabrielle Glaister. Submit your comments about the audiobooks you've listened to by Wednesday, January 2nd at noon ET, and you'll be in the running to win both these audio titles.
For our latest poll, we want to know if you use Goodreads and, if so, all the ways you interact with the site. Click here to enlighten us! We have a reason for asking.
Also, we've updated our Books on Screen feature for this month. December's roundup includes the feature films If Beale Street Could Talk, Bird Box (which will stream on Netflix), Mary Poppins Returns and Back Roads; the conclusion of season one of "My Brilliant Friend" on HBO (it was just announced today that there will be a second season), along with the premiere (and finale) of Syfy's "Nightflyers," the debut of Netflix's series "The Innocent Man" and the made-for-TV movie Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries; and the DVD releases of Unbroken: Path to Redemption, Little Women and The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
Holiday Shopping? For those of you who are doing online shopping, including your holiday 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:
December'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 December 3rd to January 2nd at noon ET, two lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the audio versions of Diane Setterfield's ONCE UPON A RIVER, read by Juliet Stevenson, and Lisa Jewell's WATCHING YOU, read by Gabrielle Glaister.
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 December 3rd in Hardcover
December 4th
ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS: A Biography of Rock Hudson by Mark Griffin (Biography)
Devastatingly handsome, broad-shouldered and clean-cut, Rock Hudson reigned supreme as the king of Hollywood throughout the ’50s and ’60s. In a more conservative era, his wholesome, straight arrow screen image was at odds with his closeted homosexuality. Mark Griffin provides new details concerning Hudson’s troubled relationships with wife Phyllis Gates and boyfriend Marc Christian. And here, for the first time, is an in-depth exploration of Hudson’s classic films, including Written on the Wind, A Farewell to Arms and the cult favorite Seconds. With unprecedented access to private journals, personal correspondence and production files, Griffin pays homage to the idol whose life and death had a lasting impact on American culture.
Harper | 9780062408853
ARMY OF EMPIRE: The Untold Story of the Indian Army in World War I by George Morton-Jack (History)
While their story is almost always overlooked, the 1.5 million Indian soldiers who served the British Empire in World War I played a crucial role in the eventual Allied victory. Despite their sacrifices, Indian troops received mixed reactions from their allies and their enemies alike --- some were treated as liberating heroes, some as mercenaries and conquerors themselves, and all as racial inferiors and a threat to white supremacy. Yet even as they fought as imperial troops under the British flag, their broadened horizons fired in them new hopes of racial equality and freedom on the path to Indian independence.
Basic Books | 9780465094042
BROKEN GROUND: A Karen Pirie Novel by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
Six feet under in a Highland peat bog lies Alice Somerville’s inheritance, buried by her grandfather at the end of World War II. But when Alice finally uncovers it, she finds an unwanted surprise --- a body with a bullet hole between the eyes. Meanwhile, cold case detective Karen Pirie is called in to unravel a case where nothing is quite as it seems. And as she gets closer to the truth, it becomes clear that not everyone shares her desire for justice. Or even the idea of what justice is.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802129123
BRYANT & MAY: HALL OF MIRRORS: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler (Historical Mystery)
After accidentally sinking a barge painted like the Yellow Submarine, detectives Arthur Bryant and John May are relegated to babysitting Monty Hatton-Jones, the star prosecution witness in the trial of a disreputable developer whose prefabs are prone to collapse. The job for the demoted detectives? Keep the whistle-blower safe for one weekend. The task proves unexpectedly challenging when their unruly charge insists on attending a party at the vast estate Tavistock Hall. With falling stone gryphons, secret passageways, rumors of a mythical beast, and an all-too-real dismembered corpse, the bedeviled policemen soon find themselves with “a proper country house murder” on their hands.
Bantam | 9781101887097
THE DAKOTA WINTERS by Tom Barbash (Fiction)
It’s the fall of 1979 in New York City when 23-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the mend from a nasty bout of malaria, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota. His father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter, is there to greet him, himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long, Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy’s stalled career. But the more he finds himself enmeshed in his father’s professional and spiritual reinvention, the more Anton questions his own path, and fissures in the Winter family begin to threaten their close bond.
Ecco | 9780062258199
DEATH BY DRAGONFLY: A Grace Street Mystery by Jane Tesh (Paranormal Mystery)
Flamboyant actor Leo Pierson's Art Nouveau treasures have been stolen, including a one-of-a-kind Lalique glass dragonfly he claims is cursed. David Randall, 302 Grace Street's private eye, agrees to recover the valuables before he realizes that murder has raised its ugly head in the Parkland art community. Samuel Gallant of the museum board is missing, until Randall and his landlord/consultant Camden find Gallant's body stuffed in a museum closet. When another board member suffers a fatal accident and the art critic for the Parkland Herald is attacked, Randall suspects that the stolen dragonfly is indeed cursed.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464211126
FOR THE SAKE OF THE GAME: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger (Mystery/Short Stories)
FOR THE SAKE OF THE GAME is the latest volume in the award-winning series from Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, with stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and friends in a variety of eras and forms. King and Klinger have a simple formula: ask some of the world’s greatest writers --- regardless of genre --- to be inspired by the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. Some tales are pastiches, featuring the recognizable figures of Holmes and Watson; others step away in time or place to describe characters and stories influenced by the Holmes world. Some of the authors spin whimsical tales of fancy; others tell hardcore thrillers or puzzling mysteries. One beloved author writes a song; two others craft a melancholy graphic tale of insectoid analysis.
Pegasus Books | 9781681778792
THE GREAT WAR IN AMERICA: World War I and Its Aftermath by Garrett Peck (History)
The Great War’s bitter outcome left the experience largely overlooked and forgotten in American history. This timely book is a reexamination of America’s first global experience as we commemorate World War I's centennial. The U.S. had steered clear of the European conflagration known as the Great War for more than two years, but President Woodrow Wilson reluctantly led the divided country into the conflict with the goal of making the world “safe for democracy.” The country assumed a global role for the first time and attempted to build the foundations for world peace, only to witness the experience go badly awry and it retreated into isolationism.
Pegasus Books | 9781681778785
HEARTS OF THE MISSING by Carol Potenza (Mystery)
When a young woman linked to a list of missing Fire-Sky tribal members commits suicide, Pueblo Police Sergeant Nicky Matthews is assigned to the case. As the investigation unfolds, she uncovers a threat that strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a Fire-Sky Native: victims chosen and murdered because of their genetic makeup. But these deaths are not just about a life taken. In a vengeful twist, the killer ensures the spirits of those targeted will wander forever, lost to their family, their People and their ancestors. When those closest to Nicky are put in jeopardy, she must be willing to sacrifice everything --- her career, her life, even her soul --- to save the people she is sworn to protect.
Minotaur Books | 9781250178282
INTO THE NIGHT by Sarah Bailey (Mystery)
Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock finds herself lost and alone after a recent move to Melbourne, brokenhearted by the decisions she's had to make. Her new workplace is a minefield, and Detective Sergeant Nick Fleet, the partner she has been assigned, is uncommunicative and often hostile. When a homeless man is murdered and Gemma is put on the case, she can't help feeling a connection with the victim and his lonely, isolated existence. Then Sterling Wade, an up-and-coming actor filming his breakout performance in a closed-off city street, is murdered in the middle of an action-packed shot, and Gemma and Nick have to put aside their differences to unravel the mysteries surrounding the actor's life and death.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538759950
KITCHEN YARNS: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood (Essays)
From her Italian-American childhood through raising and feeding a growing family and cooking with her new husband, food writer Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. Growing up, she tasted love in her grandmother’s tomato sauce and dreamed of her mother’s special-occasion Fancy Lady Sandwiches. Later, the kitchen became the heart of Hood’s own home. She cooked pork roast to warm her first apartment, used two cups of dried basil for her first attempt at making pesto, taught her children how to make their favorite potatoes, found hope in her daughter’s omelet after a divorce, and fell in love again --- with both her husband and his foolproof chicken stock.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393249507
THE MANSION by Ezekiel Boone (Horror/Thriller)
Years ago, Shawn Eagle and Billy Stafford created a revolutionary computer called Eagle Logic. But they parted ways following a major falling-out. Now Billy is beset by poverty and addiction, and Shawn is the most famous man in the world. Unable to let the past be forgotten, Shawn decides to resurrect his and Billy’s biggest failure: a next-generation computer program named Nellie that can control a house’s every function. He decides to set it up in the abandoned mansion they worked near all those years ago. But something about Nellie isn’t right --- and the reconstruction of the mansion is plagued by accidental deaths. Shawn is forced to bring Billy back, despite their longstanding mutual hatred, to discover and destroy the evil that lurks in the source code.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501165504
MURDER AT THE MILL by M. B. Shaw (Mystery)
Iris Grey rents a quaint cottage in a picture-perfect Hampshire village, looking to escape from her crumbling marriage. She is drawn to the neighboring Wetherby family, and is commissioned to paint a portrait of Dominic Wetherby, a celebrated crime writer. At the Wetherbys’ Christmas Eve party, the mulled wine is in full flow --- but so are tensions and rivalries among the guests. On Christmas Day, the youngest member of the Wetherby family, Lorcan, finds a body in the water. A tragic accident? Or a deadly crime?
Minotaur Books | 9781250189295
NORTH OF DAWN by Nuruddin Farah (Fiction)
For decades, Gacalo and Mugdi have lived in Oslo, where they've led a peaceful, largely assimilated life and raised two children. However, their beloved son, Dhaqaneh, is driven by feelings of alienation to jihadism in Somalia, where he kills himself in a suicide attack. The couple reluctantly offers a haven to his family. But on arrival in Oslo, their daughter-in-law cloaks herself even more deeply in religion, while her children hunger for the freedoms of their new homeland, a rift that will have life-altering consequences for the entire family.
Riverhead Books | 9780735214231
NOT OF THIS FOLD: A Linda Wallheim Mystery Set in Mormon Utah by Mette Ivie Harrison (Mystery)
Gwen Ferris is quickly losing faith in the church, and her issues with the Mormon power structure are only reinforced when Gabriela Gonzalez, a young mother and Gwen’s friend, is found strangled at a gas station. The dead woman’s last phone call was to Gwen, and her voice mail reveals that she knew she was in danger. When Gwen decides the police aren’t doing enough to get justice for Gabriela, who was an undocumented immigrant, she decides to find the killer herself. Mormon bishop’s wife Linda Wallheim reluctantly takes part in Gwen’s vigilante sleuthing, fearing for her young friend’s safety, but what the pair discovers may put them both in danger.
Soho Crime | 9781616959425
OF BLOOD AND BONE: Chronicles of The One, Book 2 by Nora Roberts (Dystopian Fantasy)
They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed. Fallon Swift, approaching her 13th birthday, barely knows the world that existed before --- the city where her parents lived, now in ruins and reclaimed by nature since the Doom sickened and killed billions. Traveling anywhere is a danger, as vicious gangs of Raiders and fanatics called Purity Warriors search for their next victim. Those like Fallon, in possession of gifts, are hunted --- and the time is coming when her true nature, her identity as The One, can no longer be hidden.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250122995
ONCE UPON A RIVER by Diane Setterfield (Mystery)
On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed. Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9780743298070
RADIANT SHIMMERING LIGHT by Sarah Selecky (Fiction)
Lilian Quick is a 40-year-old single woman working as a pet portrait artist. Her estranged cousin has become internet-famous as "Eleven" Novak, the face of a massive feminine lifestyle empowerment brand. When Eleven comes to town on tour, the two women reconnect. Despite 20 years of unexplained silence, Eleven offers Lilian a place at The Temple, her Manhattan office. Lilian accepts, moves to New York, and quickly enrolls in The Ascendency, Eleven's signature program: an expensive, three-month training seminar on leadership, spiritual awakening and marketing. Eleven is going to help her cousin become her best self. In just three months, Lilian's life changes drastically. But can she trust everything Eleven says?
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635571806
THE SONGBIRD by Marcia Willett (Fiction)
When Tim confides in Mattie that he needs a sabbatical from work and a fresh place to live, she suggests he move into one of the cottages at her family's home in the beautiful English countryside. As he gets to know the warm jumble of family who share their lives, Tim discovers that everyone there has their secrets. There's Kat, a retired ballet dancer who longs to take the stage again; Charlotte, a young navy wife struggling to bring up her son while her husband is at sea; and William, who has tried hard to get over his estranged wife --- though it's much harder now that she's trying to move into the cottage Tim just occupied. And, even when she's far away, Tim knows there's Mattie. Can he open up to her? Would it matter if he did?
Thomas Dunne Books | 9781250177414
THE THREE SECRET CITIES by Matthew Reilly (Thriller/Adventure)
When Jack West, Jr. won the Great Games, he threw the four legendary kingdoms into turmoil. Now these dark forces are coming after Jack...in ruthless fashion. With the end of all things rapidly approaching, Jack must find the Three Secret Cities, three incredible lost cities of legend. It’s an impossible task by any reckoning, but Jack must do it while he is being hunted...by the greatest hunters in history.
Gallery Books | 9781501167195
VICTORY CITY: A History of New York and New Yorkers During World War II by John Strausbaugh (History)
While World War II launched and leveled nations, spurred economic growth, and saw the rise and fall of global Fascism, New York City would eventually emerge as the new capital of the world. From the Gilded Age to VJ-Day, an array of fascinating New Yorkers rose to fame, from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Langston Hughes to Joe Louis, Robert Moses to Joe DiMaggio. In VICTORY CITY, John Strausbaugh provides readers with a groundbreaking new look into the greatest city on earth during the most transformative --- and costliest --- war in human history.
Twelve | 9781455567485
WRONG LIGHT: A Rick Cahill Novel by Matt Coyle (Hard-boiled Mystery/Thriller)
A demented soul is stalking Naomi Hendrix, waiting for the right moment to snatch her and fulfill a twisted fantasy. When Naomi’s radio station hires PI Rick Cahill to protect Naomi and track down the stalker, he discovers that Naomi is hiding secrets about her past that could help unmask the man. However, before Rick can extract the truth from Naomi, he is thrust into a missing person’s case --- an abduction he may have unwittingly caused. The investigating detective questions Rick’s motives for getting involved and pressures him to stop meddling. While Rick pursues Naomi’s stalker and battles the police, evil ricochets from his own past and embroils him in a race to find the truth about an old nemesis.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608093168
On Sale the Week of December 3rd in Paperback
December 4th
THE ACCIDENTAL BEAUTY QUEEN by Teri Wilson (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Charlotte Gorman loves her job as an elementary school librarian, and is content to experience life through the pages of her books. Which couldn’t be more opposite from her identical twin sister. Ginny, an Instagram-famous beauty pageant contestant, is not giving up until she gets the title of Miss American Treasure. And she’s refusing to do it alone this time. She drags Charlotte to the pageant as a good luck charm, but the winning plan quickly goes awry when Ginny has a terrible, face-altering allergic reaction the night before the pageant, and Charlotte suddenly finds herself in a switcheroo the twins haven’t successfully pulled off in decades.
Gallery Books | 9781501197604
ACCIDENTAL HEROES by Danielle Steel (Romantic Suspense)
Two planes have just departed for San Francisco --- one a 757, another a smaller Airbus A321. At a security checkpoint, TSA agent Bernice Adams finds a postcard of the Golden Gate Bridge bearing an ambiguous --- perhaps ominous --- message. Her supervisor dismisses her concerns, but Bernice calls security and soon Ben Waterman, a senior Homeland Security agent, arrives. As Ben scans the passenger manifests, his focus turns to the A321. Sifting through data and relying on instinct, Ben becomes convinced that someone on that plane is planning something terrible. And he’s right. Passengers, crew and experts on the ground become heroes out of necessity to try to avert tragedy at the 11th hour.
Dell | 9781101884119
AGENT IN PLACE: A Gray Man Novel by Mark Greaney (Thriller)
Fresh off his first mission back with the CIA, Court Gentry secures what seems like a cut-and-dried contract job: A group of expats in Paris hires him to kidnap the mistress of Syrian dictator Ahmed Azzam to get intel that could destabilize Azzam's regime. Court delivers Bianca Medina to the rebels, but his job doesn't end there. She soon reveals that she has given birth to a son, the only heir to Azzam's rule --- and a potent threat to the Syrian president's powerful wife. Now, to get Bianca's cooperation, Court must bring her son out of Syria alive.
Berkley | 9780451488916
BLOOD SISTERS by Jane Corry (Psychological Thriller)
Three little girls set off to school one sunny morning. Within an hour, one of them is dead. Fifteen years later, Kitty can't speak and has no memory of the accident that's to blame. She lives in an institution and is unlikely ever to leave. But that doesn't keep her from being frightened when she encounters an eerily familiar face. Art teacher Alison is struggling to make ends meet and to forget the past. When a teaching job at a prison opens up, she takes it, despite her fears. Then she starts to receive alarming notes; next, her classroom erupts in violence. Meanwhile, someone is watching both Kitty and Alison. Someone who never forgot what happened that day. Someone who wants revenge. And only another life will do.
Penguin Books | 9780525522805
THE BOAT PEOPLE by Sharon Bala (Fiction)
When a rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and 500 fellow refugees from Sri Lanka's bloody civil war reaches Vancouver's shores, the young father thinks he and his six-year-old son can finally start a new life. Instead, the group is thrown into a detention processing center, with government officials and news headlines speculating that among the "boat people" are members of a separatist militant organization responsible for countless suicide attacks --- and that these terrorists now pose a threat to Canada's national security. As the refugees become subject to heavy interrogation, Mahindan begins to fear that a desperate act taken in Sri Lanka to fund their escape may now jeopardize his and his son's chance for asylum.
Anchor | 9780525432463
DEATH AT NUREMBERG: A Clandestine Operations Novel by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
When Jim Cronley hears he's just won the Legion of Merit, he figures there's another shoe to drop, and it's a big one: he's out as Chief, DCI-Europe. His new assignments, however, couldn't be bigger: to protect the U.S. chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials from a rumored Soviet NKGB kidnapping, and to hunt down and dismantle the infamous Odessa, an organization dedicated to helping Nazi war criminals escape to South America. It doesn't take long for the first attempt on his life, and then the second. NKGB or Odessa? Who can tell? The deeper he pushes, the more secrets tumble out.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735215825
HANNA WHO FELL FROM THE SKY by Christopher Meades (Fiction)
Hanna has never been outside her secluded community of Clearhaven, nor has she ever questioned why her father has four wives. And in only one week, on her 18th birthday, Hanna will follow tradition and become the fifth wife of a man more than twice her age. But just days before the wedding, an enigmatic stranger challenges Hanna to question her fate and to follow her own will, causing her world to begin unraveling around her. When her mother reveals a secret, Hanna is forced to decide if she was really meant for something greater than the claustrophobic world of Clearhaven. But can she abandon her beloved younger sister and the only home she’s ever known?
Park Row | 9780778369813
I’LL BE YOUR BLUE SKY by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
On the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron. During the course of a single conversation, Edith gives Clare the courage to break off her engagement to her overly possessive fiancé. Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died and has given her another gift: Blue Sky House. Though the former guest house has been empty for years, Clare feels a deep connection to Edith inside its walls. As she peels back the layers of Edith’s life, Clare discovers a story of dark secrets, passionate love, heartbreaking sacrifice and incredible courage. She also makes startling discoveries about herself: where she’s come from, where she’s going, and what --- and who --- she loves.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062431943
IMPROV NATION: How We Made a Great American Art by Sam Wasson (Entertainment/History)
In IMPROV NATION, Sam Wasson charts the meteoric rise of improv from its unlikely beginnings in McCarthy-era Chicago. We witness the chance meeting between Mike Nichols and Elaine May, hang out at the after-hours bar where Dan Aykroyd hosted friends like John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, and go behind the scenes of cultural landmarks from The Graduate to “The Colbert Report.” Along the way, we befriend pioneers such as Harold Ramis, Chevy Chase, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler, Alan Arkin, Tina Fey, Judd Apatow and many others. Wasson shows why improv deserves to be considered the great American art form of the last half century.
Eamon Dolan/Mariner Books | 9781328508003
JOSEPHINE BAKER’S LAST DANCE by Sherry Jones (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Discover the fascinating and singular life story of Josephine Baker --- actress, singer, dancer, Civil Rights activist, member of the French Resistance during WWII, and a woman dedicated to erasing prejudice and creating a more equitable world. In this illuminating biographical novel, Sherry Jones brings to life Josephine's early years in servitude and poverty in America, her rise to fame as a showgirl in her famous banana skirt, her activism against discrimination, and her many loves and losses.
Gallery Books | 9781501102448
JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
No longer tolerating her husband’s borderline abuse, Faith escapes to her parents’ California beach house to plan her next move. She never dreamed her new chapter would involve befriending Sarah, a 14-year-old on the run from her father and reeling from her mother’s sudden and suspicious death. While Sarah’s grandmother scrambles to get custody, Faith is charged with spiriting the girl away on a journey that will restore her hope: Sarah implores Faith to take her to Falkner’s Midnight Sun, the prized black mare that her father sold out from under her. Throughout the sweltering summer, as they follow Midnight from show to show, Sarah comes to terms with what she witnessed on the terrible night her mother died.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781503904859
THE LAST EQUATION OF ISAAC SEVERY: A Novel in Clues by Nova Jacobs (Literary Mystery)
Just days after mathematician and family patriarch Isaac Severy dies of an apparent suicide, his adopted granddaughter Hazel, owner of a struggling bookstore, receives a letter from him by mail. In it, Isaac alludes to a secretive organization that is after his final bombshell equation, and he charges Hazel with safely delivering it to a trusted colleague. But first, she must find where the equation is hidden. While in Los Angeles for Isaac’s funeral, Hazel realizes she’s not the only one searching for his life’s work, and that the equation’s implications have potentially disastrous consequences for the extended Severy family, a group of dysfunctional geniuses unmoored by the sudden death of their patriarch.
Touchstone | 9781501175138
MILKMAN by Anna Burns (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In an unnamed city, middle sister stands out for the wrong reasons. She reads while walking, for one. And she has been taking French night classes downtown. So when a local paramilitary known as the milkman begins pursuing her, she suddenly becomes “interesting,” the last thing she ever wanted to be. Despite middle sister’s attempts to avoid him --- and to keep her mother from finding out about her maybe-boyfriend --- rumors spread and the threat of violence lingers. MILKMAN is a story of the way inaction can have enormous repercussions, in a time when the wrong flag, wrong religion or even a sunset can be subversive.
Graywolf Press | 9781644450000
ONLY KILLERS AND THIEVES by Paul Howarth (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
It is 1885, and a crippling drought threatens to ruin the McBride family. When the rain finally comes, it is a miracle that renews their hope for survival. But returning home from an afternoon swimming at a remote waterhole filled by the downpour, 14-year-old Tommy and 16-year-old Billy meet with a shocking tragedy. Thirsting for vengeance against the man they believe has wronged them, the distraught brothers turn to the ruthless and cunning John Sullivan, their father’s former employer. As they ride across the barren outback in pursuit, their harsh and horrifying journey will have a devastating impact on Tommy and will hold enduring consequences for a young country struggling to come into its own.
Harper Perennial | 9780062690982
REVOLUTION SUNDAY written by Wendy Guerra, translated by Achy Obejas (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Cleo, scion of a once-prominent Cuban family and a promising young writer in her own right, travels to Spain to collect a prestigious award. There, Cuban expats view her with suspicion --- assuming she's an informant for the Castro regime. To Cleo's surprise, that suspicion follows her home to Cuba, where she finds herself under constant surveillance by the government. When she meets and falls in love with a Hollywood filmmaker, she discovers her family is not who she thought they were…and neither is the filmmaker.
Melville House | 9781612196619
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 Perennial | 9780062322531
SIRENS by Joseph Knox (Thriller)
Infiltrating the inner circle of enigmatic criminal Zain Carver is dangerous enough. Pulling it off while also rescuing Isabelle Rossiter, a runaway politician’s daughter, from Zain’s influence? Impossible. That’s why Aidan Waits is the perfect man for the job. Disgraced, emotionally damaged, and despised by his superiors. In other words, completely expendable. But Aidan is a born survivor. And as he works his way deep into Zain’s shadowy world, he finds that nothing is as it seems. Zain is a mesmerizing, Gatsby-esque figure who lures young women into his orbit --- women who have a bad habit of turning up dead. But is Zain really responsible? And will Isabelle be next?
Broadway Books | 9781524762889
THE SURROGATE by Louise Jensen (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Kat and her husband, Nick, have tried everything to become parents, and are on the verge of giving up. Then a chance encounter with Kat's childhood friend, Lisa, gives Kat and Nick one last chance to achieve their dream. But Kat and Lisa's history hides dark secrets. And there is more to Lisa than meets the eye. As dangerous cracks start to appear in Kat's perfect picture of happily-ever-after, she realizes that she must face her fear of the past to save her family.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538730447
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED by Mick Heron (Thriller)
Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in the huge city of London, with no family but an estranged sister, no boyfriend or partner, and not much in the way of friends, Maggie is just the kind of person who could vanish from the face of the earth without anyone taking notice. Or just the kind of person MI5 needs to infiltrate the establishment and thwart an international plot that puts all of Britain at risk. Now one young woman has the chance to be a hero --- if she can think quickly enough to stay alive.
Soho Crime | 9781616959777
THE WINTER STATION by Jody Shields (Historical Fiction)
In 1910, people are mysteriously dying at an alarming rate in the Russian-ruled city of Kharbin, a major railway outpost in Northern China. Strangely, some of the dead bodies vanish before they can be identified. During a dangerously cold winter in a city gripped by fear, the Baron, a wealthy Russian aristocrat and the city's medical commissioner, is determined to stop this mysterious plague. Battling local customs, an occupying army and a brutal epidemic with no name, the Baron is torn between duty and compassion, between Western medical science and respect for Chinese tradition. His greatest refuge is the intimacy he shares with his young Chinese wife --- but she has secrets of her own.
Back Bay Books | 9780316385336
THE WOLVES OF WINTER by Tyrell Johnson (Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
Lynn McBride has learned much since society collapsed in the face of nuclear war and the relentless spread of disease. As the memories of her old life continue to surface, she’s forced to forge ahead in the snow-drifted Canadian Yukon, learning how to hunt and trap and slaughter. Forget the old days. Forget summer. Forget warmth. Forget anything that doesn’t help you survive in the endless white wilderness beyond the edges of a fallen world. Shadows of the world before have found her tiny community --- most prominently in the enigmatic figure of Jax, who brings with him dark secrets of the past and sets in motion a chain of events that will call Lynn to a role she never imagined.
Scribner | 9781501155680
December 8th
THE SECOND GOODBYE: A Pacific Homicide Novel by Patricia Smiley (Mystery)
Paperback Original
For every homicide investigation she undertakes, Detective Davie Richards is determined to learn as much about the victim as she does about the killer. But there's nothing about 34-year-old Sara Montaine or her death that makes sense. Was Sara a saint caring for her dying husband or a gold-digger with a sketchy background? Did she commit suicide or was she murdered? Before her marriage, Sara lived comfortably without any obvious source of income, unusual for an orphan raised in foster care. As Davie digs deeper, she unearths Sara's troubled past and a viper's nest of villains who are willing to kill to keep their secrets hidden.
Midnight Ink | 9780738752365
On Sale the Week of December 10th in Hardcover
December 11th
THE DAY THE SUN DIED written by Yan Lianke, translated by Carlos Rojas (Fiction)
In a little village nestled in the Balou mountains, 14-year-old Li Niannian and his parents run a funeral parlor. One evening, he notices a strange occurrence. Instead of preparing for bed, more and more neighbors appear in the streets and fields, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn’t already set. Li Niannian watches, mystified. As hundreds of residents are found dreamwalking, they act out the desires they’ve suppressed during waking hours. Before long, the community devolves into chaos, and it’s up to Li Niannian and his parents to save the town before sunrise.
Grove Press | 9780802128539
DO NO HARM: A Dr. Katie LeClair Mystery by Dawn Eastman (Mystery)
Balancing the responsibilities of a new house and the joys of a new romance, Dr. Katie LeClair is finally ready to start enjoying life. But danger arrives just as the town of Baxter, Michigan, is gearing up for its annual Halloween festival --- and once again, this doctor-turned-sleuth will have to unmask a killer in their midst. Trouble comes in threes this Halloween. Katie sees a new patient who has just been released from prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Inexplicably, the patient suddenly goes missing. And matters take an even more sinister turn when a college student who had been investigating Katie’s old murder case is found dead in the woods near Baxter.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683317876
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY: A Clandestine Operations Novel by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
A month ago, special agent James Cronley Jr. managed to capture two notorious Nazi war criminals, but not without leaving some dead bodies and outraged Austrian police in his wake. However, somebody --- Odessa, the NKGB, the Hungarian Secret Police? --- has broken the criminals out of jail, and he must track them down again. There's more to it than that, though. Evidence has surfaced that in the war's last gasps, Heinrich Himmler had stashed away a fortune to build a secret religion, dedicated both to Himmler and to creating the Fourth Reich. That money is still out there in the hands of Odessa, and that infamous organization seems to have acquired a surprising --- and troubling --- ally.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735213067
A MOMENT IN CRIME: A Santa Fe Revival Mystery by Amanda Allen (Historical Mystery)
The golden age of cinema is dawning, and Santa Fe is in the grip of movie fever when director Luther Bishop arrives for the filming of his new cowboy flick. Maddie Vaughn-Alwin’s cousin, Gwen Astor, is in town with a bit part in the movie --- but Gwen finds herself caught in a whirlwind of mischief before shooting even begins. However, the plot only thickens when the detestable director is found hanging in his office. When it comes to light that Gwen was having a torrid affair with Luther, she gets pegged as the prime suspect, much to Maddie’s dismay. But Maddie knows that Luther had his fair share of enemies, and there’s no shortage of contenders.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683318811
PANDEMIC by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller)
When an unidentified, seemingly healthy young woman collapses suddenly on the New York City subway and dies upon reaching the hospital, her case is an eerie reminder for veteran medical examiner Jack Stapleton of the 1918 flu pandemic. Fearful of a repeat on the 100th anniversary of the nightmarish contagion, Jack autopsies the woman within hours of her demise and discovers some striking anomalies: first, that she has had a heart transplant, and second, that her DNA matches that of the transplanted heart. Although the facts don't add up to influenza, Jack must race against the clock to identify the woman and determine what kind of virus could wreak such havoc --- a task made more urgent when two other victims succumb to a similar rapid death.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525535331
A SPELL OF MURDER: A Witch Cats of Cambridge Mystery by Clea Simon (Cozy Mystery)
Becca, newly single and newly unemployed, wants to believe she has psychic powers. With nothing but time, and a desire for empowerment, she’s studying to become a witch. What she doesn’t know is that her three cats --- Harriet, Laurel and Clara --- are the ones with the real power. And when Harriet --- “a cream-colored longhair with more fur than commonsense” --- conjures a pillow for her own comfort, Becca believes her spells are finally working. Could that be why Trent, the coven’s devilishly handsome leader, has been showing her special attention? Or why Suzanne, a longtime coven member, draws her aside to share a secret --- a confidence that may lead to murder?
Polis Books | 9781947993327
A SUSPICION OF SILVER: A Sir Robert Carey Mystery by P.F. Chisholm (Historical Mystery)
Sir Robert Carey has just foiled a double plot against King James. He rides for Leith hunting the would-be assassin now identified as Joachim Hochstetter, also known as Jonathan Hepburn. Has he taken ship for the Continent, or ridden nearly 130 miles south and west into England? There at Keswick, his family, originally from Augsburg, runs a mining operation that pays a royalty to Queen Elizabeth in gold. It's ruled by the widow Radagunda Hochstetter, his mother. Sir Robert's other problem? His dour, difficult and now treasonous henchman, Sergeant Henry Dodd, has disappeared somewhere on the snowy moors. Why can't anyone find Dodd's body?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464210433
On Sale the Week of December 10th in Paperback
December 11th
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 Perennial | 9780062433503
THE LAST MAN IN TEHRAN by Mark Henshaw (Thriller)
An attack on an Israeli port throws the Middle East into chaos. The Mossad, Israel’s feared intelligence service, responds with a campaign of covert sabotage and assassination, determined to protect the homeland. But evidence quickly turns up suggesting that a group of moles inside Langley are helping Mossad wage its covert war. Convinced that Mossad has heavily penetrated the CIA’s leadership, the FBI launches a counterintelligence investigation. New Red Cell Chief Kyra Stryker turns to her former mentors --- now-retired Red Cell Chief Jonathan Burke and his wife, former CIA Director Kathryn Cooke --- to help uncover who is trying to tear the CIA apart from the inside out.
Touchstone | 9781501161278
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.
Back Bay Books | 9780316466639
RED SKY AT NOON by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Historical Fiction)
Imprisoned in the Gulags for a crime he did not commit, Benya Golden joins a penal battalion made up of Cossacks and convicts to fight the Nazis. He enrolls in the Russian cavalry, and on a hot summer day in July 1942, he and his band of brothers are sent on a suicide mission behind enemy lines. But is there a traitor among them? The only thing Benya can truly trust is his horse, Silver Socks, and that he will find no mercy in onslaught of Hitler’s troops as they push East.
Pegasus Books | 9781681779072
TEXAS RANGER by James Patterson and Andrew Bourelle (Western/Thriller)
Across the ranchlands and cities of his home state, Rory Yates' discipline and law-enforcement skills have carried him far: from local highway patrolman to the honorable rank of Texas Ranger. He arrives in his hometown to find a horrifying crime scene and a scathing accusation: he is named a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife, Anne, a devoted teacher whose only controversial act was ending her marriage to a Ranger. In search of the killer, Yates plunges into the inferno of the most twisted and violent minds he's ever encountered, vowing to never surrender. That code just might bring him out alive.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538713877
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 | 9780374537999
WALLIS IN LOVE: The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, the Woman Who Changed the Monarchy by Andrew Morton (Biography)
Before she became known as the woman who enticed a king from his throne and birthright, Bessie Wallis Warfield was a prudish and particular girl from Baltimore. From a young age, she was in want of nothing but stability, status and social acceptance as she fought to climb the social ladder and take her place in London society. As irony would have it, she would gain the love and devotion of a king, but only at the cost of his throne and her reputation. In WALLIS IN LOVE, acclaimed biographer Andrew Morton offers a fresh portrait of Wallis Simpson in all her vibrancy and brazenness as she transformed from a hard-nosed gold-digger to charming chatelaine.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455566952
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