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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of April 15th and April 22nd 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 Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for April, which includes the Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, the Barnes & Noble Book Club selection, the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, and many more. With thanks to our reader, Tania, for this idea, we recently posted the Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks going back to 2014.
We also 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 about April paperbacks you already have read or are planning to read.
Finally, we are spotlighting BLUFF, which is now in stores and marks Jane Stanton Hitchcock's return to the world of crime fiction following a nine-year hiatus.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Now Available: BLUFF by Jane Stanton Hitchcock
One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she walks out again, a man will have been shot.
Maud has grown accustomed to being underestimated and invisible, and she uses her ability to fly under the radar as she pursues celebrity accountant Burt Sklar, the man she believes stole her mother's fortune and left her family in ruins. Her fervent passion for poker has taught Maud that she can turn weakness into strength to take advantage of people who think they are taking advantage of her, and now she has dealt the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.
One unexpected twist after another follows as Maud plays the most important poker hand of her life. The stakes? To take down her enemies and get justice for their victims. Her success depends on her continuing ability to bluff --- and on who will fold.
Click here to buy the book.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for April
On Sale the Week of April 15th in Hardcover
April 16th
AUTUMN LIGHT: Season of Fire and Farewells by Pico Iyer (Memoir)
For years, Pico Iyer has split his time between California and Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife, Hiroko, have a small home. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all have to live with: how to hold on to the things we love, even though we know that we and they are dying. In a country whose calendar is marked with occasions honoring the dead, this question is more urgent than anywhere else. Iyer leads us through the year following his father-in-law's death, introducing us to the people who populate his days: his ailing mother-in-law, his absent brother-in-law, and the men and women in his ping-pong club.
Knopf | 9780451493934
BAKHITA: A Novel of the Saint of Sudan written by Veronique Olmi, translated by Adriana Hunter (Historical Fiction)
She recalls little of her childhood, not even her own name. She was barely seven years old when she was snatched by slave raiders from her village in the Darfur region of southern Sudan. In a cruel twist, they gave her the name that she will carry for the rest of her life: Bakhita, "the Lucky One" in Arabic. Sold and resold along the slave trade routes, Bakhita endures years of unspeakable abuse and terror. At age 13, at last, her life takes a turn when the Italian consul in Khartoum purchases her. A few years later, as chaos engulfs the capital, the consul returns to Italy, taking Bakhita with him. In this new land, another long and arduous journey begins --- one that leads her onto a spiritual path for which she is still revered today.
Other Press | 9781590519776
BEFORE WE WERE WICKED by Eric Jerome Dickey (Romance)
They say that the love of money is the root of all evil, but for Ken Swift, it's the love of a woman. Ken is 21, hurting people for cash to try to pay his way through college, when he lays eyes on Jimi Lee, the woman who will change the course of his entire life. What's meant to be a one-night stand with the Harvard-bound beauty turns into an explosion of sexual chemistry that neither can quit. And when Jimi Lee becomes pregnant, their two very different worlds collide in ways they never could have anticipated.
Dutton | 9781524744038
THE BETTER SISTER by Alafair Burke (Psychological Thriller)
Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be the one in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky --- always restless and more than a little reckless --- was the opposite of her ambitious little sister. For a while, it seemed that both sisters had found happiness. But now, more than 15 years later, their lives are drastically different. When Chloe’s husband, Adam (who used to be married to Nicky), is murdered by an intruder, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenage stepson’s biological mother, Nicky, back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.
Harper | 9780062853370
THE BINDING by Bridget Collins (Historical Fantasy/Magical Realism)
Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder --- a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice amongst their small community. Bookbinding is a sacred calling, Seredith informs her new apprentice, and he is a binder born. Under the old woman’s watchful eye, Emmett learns to hand-craft the elegant leather-bound volumes. Within each one, they will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. But just as Emmett begins to settle into his new circumstances, he makes an astonishing discovery: one of the books has his name on it. Soon, everything he thought he understood about his life will be dramatically rewritten.
William Morrow | 9780062838094
A BLOODY BUSINESS: The Rise of Organized Crime in America written by Dylan Struzan, illustrated by Drew Struzan (True Crime/History)
Called "one of the most significant organized crime figures in the United States" by the U.S. District Attorney, Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo was just 15 years old when Prohibition became law. Over the next decade, Alo would work side by side with Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky as they navigated the brutal underworld of bootlegging, thievery and murder. Introduced to the 91-year-old Alo living in retirement in Florida, Dylan Struzan based A BLOODY BUSINESS on more than 50 hours of recorded testimony --- stories Alo had never shared, and that he forbid her to publish until "after I'm gone." Alo died, peacefully, two months short of his 97th birthday. And now his stories --- bracing and violent, full of intrigue and betrayal, hunger and hubris --- can finally be told.
Hard Case Crime | 9781785657702
THE DEPARTMENT OF SENSITIVE CRIMES: A Detective Varg Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery/Humor)
In the Swedish criminal justice system, certain cases are considered especially strange and difficult. In Malmö, the dedicated detectives who investigate these crimes are members of an elite squad known as the Sensitive Crimes Division. These are their stories. The first case: the small matter of a man stabbed in the back of the knee. Who would perpetrate such a crime and why? Next: a young woman's imaginary boyfriend goes missing. But how on earth do you search for someone who doesn't exist? And in the final investigation: eerie secrets that are revealed under a full moon may not seem so supernatural in the light of day.
Pantheon | 9781524748210
FEAST YOUR EYES by Myla Goldberg (Historical Fiction)
FEAST YOUR EYES, framed as the catalogue notes from a photography show at the Museum of Modern Art, tells the life story of Lillian Preston. After discovering photography as a teenager through her high school’s photo club, Lillian rejects her parents’ expectations of college and marriage and moves to New York City in 1955. When a small gallery exhibits partially nude photographs of Lillian and her daughter Samantha, Lillian is arrested, thrust into the national spotlight and targeted with an obscenity charge. Mother and daughter’s sudden notoriety changes the course of both of their lives, and especially Lillian’s career, as she continues a life-long quest for artistic legitimacy and recognition.
Scribner | 9781501197840
FLOWERS OVER THE INFERNO: A Teresa Battaglia Novel written by Ilaria Tuti, translated by Ekin Oklap (Mystery/Thriller)
In a quiet village surrounded by ancient woods and the imposing Italian Alps, a man is found naked with his eyes gouged out. It is the first in a string of gruesome murders. Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a detective with a background in criminal profiling, is called to investigate. Battaglia is in her mid-60s, her rank and expertise hard-won from decades of battling for respect in a male-dominated Italian police force. While she’s not sure she trusts the young city inspector assigned to assist her, she sees right away that this is no ordinary case: buried deep in these mountains is a dark history that may endanger a group of eight-year-old children toward whom the killer seems to gravitate.
Soho Crime | 9781641290685
MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim (Legal Thriller/Mystery)
In rural Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine --- a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or infertility. But when the Miracle Submarine mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community. Who or what caused the explosion? The ensuing trial uncovers unimaginable secrets from that night --- trysts in the woods, mysterious notes, child-abuse charges --- as well as tense rivalries and alliances among a group of people driven to extraordinary degrees of desperation and sacrifice.
Sarah Crichton Books | 9780374156022
NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney (Fiction)
At school, Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He is popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers --- one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world, while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. As she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Hogarth | 9781984822178
REDEMPTION by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Amos Decker and his FBI partner Alex Jamison are visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by an unfamiliar man. But he instantly recognizes the man's name: Meryl Hawkins. He's the first person Decker ever arrested for murder back when he was a young detective. Though a dozen years in prison have left Hawkins unrecognizably aged and terminally ill, one thing hasn't changed: He maintains he never committed the murders. Could it be possible that Decker made a mistake all those years ago? As he starts digging into the old case, Decker finds a startling connection to a new crime that he may be able to prevent, if only he can put the pieces together quickly enough.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538761410
ROAR by Cecelia Ahern (Fiction/Short Stories)
In ROAR, Cecelia Ahern explores the endless ways in which women blaze through adversity with wit, resourcefulness and compassion. She takes the familiar aspects of women's lives --- the routines, the embarrassments, the desires --- and elevates these moments to the outlandish and hilarious with her astute blend of magical realism and social insight. One woman is tortured by sinister bite marks that appear on her skin; another is swallowed up by the floor during a mortifying presentation; yet another resolves to return and exchange her boring husband at the store where she originally acquired him. The women at the center of this curious universe learn that their reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them, but also by how they perceive the power within themselves.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538730966
SOUTHERN LADY CODE: Essays by Helen Ellis (Humor/Essays)
Helen Ellis has a mantra: "If you don't have something nice to say, say something not-so-nice in a nice way." In these 23 raucous essays, Ellis transforms herself into a dominatrix Donna Reed to save her marriage, inadvertently steals a $795 Burberry trench coat, witnesses a man fake his own death at a party, avoids a neck lift, and finds a black-tie gown that gives her the confidence of a drag queen. While she may have left her home in Alabama, married a New Yorker, forgotten how to drive, and abandoned the puffy headbands of her youth, Helen Ellis is clinging to her Southern accent like mayonnaise to white bread, and offering readers a hilarious, completely singular view on womanhood for both sides of the Mason-Dixon.
Doubleday | 9780385543897
WHITE by Bret Easton Ellis (Essays)
Bret Easton Ellis has wrestled with the double-edged sword of fame and notoriety for more than 30 years now. An enigmatic figure who has always gone against the grain and refused categorization, he captured the depravity of the ’80s with one of contemporary literature's most polarizing characters, AMERICAN PSYCHO's iconic, terrifying Patrick Bateman. In recent years, his candor and gallows humor on both Twitter and his podcast have continued his legacy as someone determined to speak the truth, however painful it might be. Now, in WHITE, Ellis pours himself out onto the page and, in doing so, eviscerates the perceived good that the social-media age has wrought, starting with the dangerous cult of likability.
Knopf | 9780525656302
On Sale the Week of April 15th in Paperback
April 15th
DURING-THE-EVENT by Roger Wall (Dystopian Fiction/Adventure)
Paperback Original
In the near future, climate change has ravaged the United States, leading the government to overcorrect through culls and relocation. Those who survive the mandated destruction are herded into “habitable production zones,” trading their freedom for illusions of security. The few who escape learn quickly that the key to survival is to stay hidden in the corners of the country. For 17 years, During-the-Event (D.E.) has lived free in a pastoral life with his grandfather in North Dakota. But when death reaches their outpost, D.E. is forced on a journey that will change his life --- and reveal surprises about his past. Once taught that strangers are only sources of pain, D.E. must learn to trust the people he meets on his journey.
University of Alaska Press | 9781602233829
April 16th
THE 13-MINUTE MURDER by James Patterson (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Psychiatrist Randall Beck specializes in PTSD cases --- and his time is limited. Especially when he uncovers a plot to kill a presidential candidate. Molly Rourke's son has been murdered --- and she knows who's responsible. Now she's taking the law into her own hands. He can kill anybody in just minutes --- from the first approach to the clean escape. His skills have served him well, and he has a grand plan: to get out alive and spend his earnings with his beloved wife, Maria. An anonymous client offers Ryan a rich payout to assassinate a target in Harvard Yard. The precision strike starts perfectly, then somehow explodes into a horrifying spectacle. Ryan has to run and Maria goes missing. Now the world's fastest hit man sets out for one last score: Revenge. And every minute counts.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538733035
THE BANKER’S WIFE by Cristina Alger (Thriller)
On an early morning in November, a couple boards a private plane bound for Geneva, flying into a storm. Soon after, it simply drops off the radar, and its wreckage is later uncovered in the Alps. Among the disappeared is Matthew Werner, a banking insider at Swiss United, a powerful offshore bank. His young widow, Annabel, is left grappling with the secrets he left behind. As she begins a desperate search for answers, she determines that Matthew's death was no accident. Ambitious society journalist Marina Tourneau uncovers information that implicates some of the most powerful men in the financial world. The story could also be the answer to Annabel's heartbreaking search --- if Marina chooses to publish it.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780735218475
BEARSKIN by James A. McLaughlin (Fiction)
Rice Moore is just beginning to think his troubles are behind him. He’s found a job protecting a remote forest preserve in Virginian Appalachia where his main responsibilities include tracking wildlife and refurbishing cabins. It’s hard work, and totally solitary --- perfect to hide away from the Mexican drug cartels he betrayed back in Arizona. But when Rice finds the carcass of a bear killed on the grounds, the quiet solitude he’s so desperately sought is suddenly at risk. More bears are killed on the preserve and Rice’s obsession with catching the poachers escalates, leading to hostile altercations with the locals and attention from both the law and Rice’s employers.
Ecco | 9780062742803
BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND by Heather Gudenkauf (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
For 12-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover --- movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences. Later that night, Cora is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora --- and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted --- not even those closest to Cora.
Park Row | 9780778307730
BEYOND THE TRUTH: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel by Anne Holt (Mystery)
Shortly before Christmas, four people are found shot dead at the home of the Stahlbergs, a wealthy family of shipping merchants notorious for their miserliness and infighting. Three of the victims are members of the family, and the fourth is an outsider, seemingly out of place. As Hanne Wilhelmsen investigates the case alongside her longtime police partner, Billy T., motives for the murders emerge in abundance; each surviving member of the Stahlberg family had good reason to want the victims dead. As she searches for the killer, Hanne will once again risk everything to find out the truth. But this time, will she go too far?
Scribner | 9781501123467
BLOOD MOON: An American Epic of War and Splendor in the Cherokee Nation by John Sedgwick (History)
BLOOD MOON is the story of the feud between two rival Cherokee chiefs from the early years of the United States through the infamous Trail of Tears and into the Civil War. Their enmity would lead to war, forced removal from their homeland, and the devastation of a once-proud nation. One of the men, known as The Ridge, is a fearsome warrior who speaks no English, but whose exploits on the battlefield are legendary. The other, John Ross, is a pale, unimposing half-pint who wears modern clothes and speaks not a word of Cherokee. At first, the two men are friends and allies who negotiate with almost every American president from Washington through Lincoln. But as the threat to their land and their people grows more dire, they break with each other on the subject of removal.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501128691
BLUFF by Michael Kardos (Thriller)
At 27, magician Natalie Webb is already a has-been. A card-trick prodigy, she took first place at the World of Magic competition at 18 and has never again reached such heights. Shunned by the magic world after a disastrous liaison with an older magician, she now lives alone in a New Jersey apartment. In a desperate ploy for extra cash, she follows up on an old offer to write for a glossy magazine and pitches the editor a seductive topic: the art of cheating at cards. But when Natalie meets the perfect subject for her piece --- a poker cheat who dazzles at sleight of hand --- what begins as a journalistic gamble soon becomes a test of everything she thinks she knows about her talent, and herself.
Mysterious Press | 9780802129659
CITY OF FLICKERING LIGHT by Juliette Fay (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
It’s July 1921, “flickers” are all the rage, and Irene Van Beck has just declared her own independence by jumping off a moving train to escape her fate in a traveling burlesque show. When her friends, fellow dancer Millie Martin and comedian Henry Weiss, leap after her, the trio finds their way to the bright lights of Hollywood with hopes of making it big in the burgeoning silent film industry. But success doesn’t come easy, and nothing can prepare Irene, Millie and Henry for the poverty, temptation and heartbreak that lie ahead. With their ambitions challenged by both the men above them and the prejudice surrounding them, their friendship is the only constant through desperate times, as each struggles to find their true calling in an uncertain world.
Gallery Books | 9781501192937
CULT X written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Kalau Almony (Mystery/Thriller)
When Toru Narazaki’s girlfriend, Ryoko Tachibana, disappears, he tries to track her down, despite the warnings of the private detective he’s hired to find her. Ryoko’s past is shrouded in mystery, but the one concrete clue to her whereabouts is a previous address in the heart of Tokyo. She lived in a compound with a group that seems to be a cult led by a charismatic guru with a revisionist Buddhist scheme of life, death and society. Narazaki plunges into the secretive world of the cult, ready to expose himself to any of the guru’s brainwashing tactics if it means he can learn the truth about Ryoko. But the cult isn’t what he expected, and he has no idea of the bubbling violence he is stepping into.
Soho Crime | 9781641290234
DREAMS OF FALLING by Karen White (Mystery)
Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads --- and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home. Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly 50 years --- whispers of love, sacrifice and betrayal --- that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways.
Berkley | 9780451488435
GUMSHOE ON THE LOOSE by Rob Leininger (Mystery)
IRS agent-turned-PI Mortimer Angel is relaxing in a hole-in-the-wall bar in a Reno casino when an attractive young girl hires him to find out who left her a cryptic message demanding a million dollars. At the girl’s house, Mort finds the body of missing rapper Jonnie Xenon --- Jo-X to his legions of fans --- hanging from the rafters with two bullet holes in him. Mort is shocked when he learns the identity of the girl’s father --- and even more shocked when the father hires him to investigate the murder. Mort, being Mort, accumulates a few felonies as he follows the clues to Las Vegas. And along the way, he picks up an alluring young assistant who changes his life --- in every conceivable way.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608093496
THE MERCY SEAT by Elizabeth H. Winthrop (Historical Fiction)
On the eve of his execution, 18-year-old Willie Jones sits in his cell in New Iberia awaiting his end. Across the state, a truck driven by a convict and his keeper carries the executioner’s chair closer. On a nearby highway, Willie’s father Frank lugs a gravestone on the back of his fading, old mule. In his office, the DA who prosecuted Willie reckons with his sentencing, while at their gas station at the crossroads outside of town, married couple Ora and Dale grapple with their grief and their secrets.
Grove Press | 9780802129611
THE MISTER by E L James (Romance)
Paperback Original
London, 2019. Life has been easy for Maxim Trevelyan. With his good looks, aristocratic connections and money, he’s never had to work and he’s rarely slept alone. But all that changes when tragedy strikes and Maxim inherits his family’s noble title, wealth and estates, and all the responsibility that entails. It’s a role he’s not prepared for and one that he struggles to face. But his biggest challenge is fighting his desire for an unexpected, enigmatic young woman who’s recently arrived in England, possessing little more than a dangerous and troublesome past. Reticent, beautiful and musically gifted, she’s an alluring mystery, and Maxim’s longing for her deepens into a passion that he’s never experienced and dares not name.
Vintage | 9781984898326
A NANTUCKET WEDDING by Nancy Thayer (Fiction)
A few years after losing her beloved husband, Alison is doing something she never thought she would do again: getting married. While placing the finishing touches on her summer nuptials, Alison is anxious to introduce her fiancé, David, to her grown daughters: Felicity, a worried married mother of two, and Jane, also married but focused on her career. The sisters have a somewhat distant relationship, and Alison hopes that the wedding and the weeks leading up to the ceremony will give the siblings a chance to reconnect, as well as meet and get to know David’s grown children. As the summer progresses, it is anything but smooth sailing.
Ballantine Books | 9781101967119
THE ONE by John Marrs (Science Fiction/Thriller)
A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner --- the one you’re genetically made for. That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love. Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335998859
A QUESTION OF BELIEF: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon (Mystery)
With his hometown beset by hordes of tourists and baking under a glaring sun, Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti's greatest wish is to go to the mountains with his family, where he can sleep under a down comforter and catch up on his reading. But before he can go on vacation, a folder with court records has landed on his desk, brought by an old friend. It appears that cases at the local court --- hardly known as a model of efficiency --- are being delayed to the benefit of one of the parties, a creative new trick for corrupting the system. And just when it looks like Brunetti will be able to get away, a shocking, violent crime forces him to stay in Venice.
Grove Press | 9780802129550
RUTHLESS TIDE: The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America’s Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster by Al Roker (History)
Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rain swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork dam. At 3:10pm the dam gave way, releasing 20 million tons of water. The deluge wiped out nearly everything in its path before reaching Johnstown, a vibrant steel town 14 miles downstream. Traveling 40 miles an hour, the deadly floodwaters razed the mill town in minutes. The Great Flood remains the deadliest in US history, killing more than 2,200 people and causing $17 million in damage. In RUTHLESS TIDE, Al Roker follows an unforgettable cast of characters whose fates converged because of that tragic day.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062445537
VARINA by Charles Frazier (Historical Fiction)
Her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. Davis instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history --- culpable regardless of her intentions. The Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond and travel south on their own, now fugitives with “bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit.”
Ecco | 9780062405999
On Sale the Week of April 22nd in Hardcover
April 23rd
A BOY AND HIS DOG AT THE END OF THE WORLD by C. A. Fletcher (Dystopian Fiction)
My name's Griz. My childhood wasn't like yours. I've never had friends, and in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs. Then the thief came. There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you. Because if we aren't loyal to the things we love, what's the point?
Orbit | 9780316449458
CHASING COSBY: The Downfall of America's Dad by Nicole Weisensee Egan (True Crime)
Bill Cosby's decades-long career as a sweater-wearing, wholesome TV dad came to a swift and stunning end on April 26, 2018, when he was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. The mounting allegations against Cosby --- more than 60 women have come forward to accuse him of similar crimes --- and his ultimate conviction were a shock to Americans, who wanted to cleave to their image of Cosby as a pudding-pop hero. Award-winning journalist and former People magazine senior writer Nicki Weisensee Egan was the first reporter to dig into the story when Constand went to the police in 2005. In CHASING COSBY, Egan shares her firsthand account of Cosby's 13-year run from justice.
Seal Press | 9781580058964
COURTING MR. LINCOLN by Louis Bayard (Historical Fiction)
When Mary Todd meets Abraham Lincoln, he is on no one's shortlist to be president. Rough and reticent, he’s a country lawyer lacking money and manners, living above a dry goods shop, but with a gift for oratory. Mary, a quick, self-possessed debutante with a tireless interest in debates and elections, at first finds him an enigma. It’s not long, though, before she sees the Lincoln that his roommate, Joshua Speed, knows: a man who, despite his awkwardness, is amiable and profound, with a gentle wit to match his genius and a respect for her keen political mind. But as her relationship with Lincoln deepens, she must confront his inseparable friendship with Speed, who has taught his roommate how to dance, dress and navigate the polite society of Springfield.
Algonquin Books | 9781616208479
DAWN: Stories by Selahattin Demirtaş (Fiction/Short Stories)
Selahattin Demirtaş’ arresting stories capture the voices of ordinary people living through extraordinary times. A cleaning lady is caught up in a violent demonstration on her way to work. A five-year-old girl attempts to escape war-torn Syria with her mother by boat. A suicide bombing shatters a neighborhood in Aleppo. And in the powerful story “Seher,” a young factory worker is robbed of her dreams in an unimaginable act of violence.
SJP for Hogarth | 9780525576938
DELTA-V by Daniel Suarez (Science Fiction/Thriller)
When itinerant cave diver James Tighe receives an invitation to billionaire Nathan Joyce's private island, he thinks it must be a mistake. But Tighe's unique skill set makes him a prime candidate for Joyce's high-risk venture to mine a near-earth asteroid --- with the goal of kick-starting an entire off-world economy. The potential rewards and personal risks are staggering, but the competition is fierce and the stakes couldn't be higher. Isolated and pushed beyond their breaking points, Tighe and his fellow 21st-century adventurers --- ex-soldiers, former astronauts, BASE jumpers and mountain climbers --- must rely on each other to survive not only the dangers of a multi-year expedition but also the harsh realities of business in space.
Dutton | 9781524742416
EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE: First Loves and Last Tales by Oliver Sacks (Science/Essays)
Oliver Sacks, scientist and storyteller, is beloved by readers for his neurological case histories and his fascination and familiarity with human behavior at its most unexpected and unfamiliar. EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE is a celebration of Sacks' myriad interests --- from his passion for ferns, swimming and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia and Alzheimer's --- told with his characteristic compassion and erudition, and in his luminous prose.
Knopf | 9780451492890
I KNOW WHO YOU ARE by Alice Feeney (Psychological Thriller)
Meet Aimee Sinclair, the actress everyone thinks they know but can’t remember where from. Except one person. Someone knows Aimee very well. They know who she is and what she did. When Aimee comes home and discovers her husband is missing, she doesn’t seem to know what to do or how to act. The police think she’s hiding something, and they’re right, she is --- but perhaps not what they thought. Aimee has a secret she’s never shared, and yet she suspects that someone knows. As she struggles to keep her career and sanity intact, her past comes back to haunt her in ways more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.
Flatiron Books | 9781250147349
MACHINES LIKE ME by Ian McEwan (Speculative Fiction)
MACHINES LIKE ME takes place in an alternative 1980s London. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first synthetic humans and --- with Miranda's help --- designs Adam's personality. The near-perfect human that emerges is beautiful, strong and clever. It isn't long before a love triangle soon forms, and these three beings confront a profound moral dilemma.
Nan A. Talese | 9780385545112
THE MISSING YEARS by Lexie Elliott (Psychological Thriller)
Ailsa Calder has inherited half of a house. The other half belongs to a man who disappeared without a trace 27 years ago --- her father. Leaving London behind to settle the inheritance from her mother's estate, Ailsa returns to her childhood home, nestled amongst the craggy peaks of the Scottish Highlands, joined by the half-sister who's almost a stranger to her. Ailsa can't escape the claustrophobic feeling that the house itself is watching her --- as if her past hungers to consume her. She also can't ignore how the neighborhood animals refuse to set one foot within the gates of the garden. When the first nighttime intruder shows up, Ailsa fears that the manor's careless rugged beauty could cost her everything.
Berkley | 9780399586958
THE MOMENT OF LIFT: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates (Social Science/Women's Studies)
For the last 20 years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, you need to stop keeping women down. In THE MOMENT OF LIFT, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, “That is why I had to write this book --- to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live.”
Flatiron Books | 9781250313577
THE MOTHER-IN-LAW by Sally Hepworth (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. That was five years ago. Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body. But the autopsy finds no cancer. It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation. Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the 11th hour to disinherit both of her children and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250120922
NANAVILLE: Adventures in Grandparenting by Anna Quindlen (Memoir)
Before blogs even existed, Anna Quindlen became a go-to writer on the joys and challenges of family, motherhood and modern life, in her nationally syndicated column. Now she’s taking the next step and going full nana in the pages of this lively, beautiful and moving book about being a grandmother. Quindlen offers thoughtful and telling observations about her new role, no longer mother and decision-maker but secondary character and support to the parents of her grandson. She writes, “Where I once led, I have to learn to follow.” Eventually a close friend provides words to live by: “Did they ask you?”
Random House | 9780812996104
NEON PREY: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford (Mystery/Thriller)
Clayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him. They don't much care about a low-level guy --- it's his boss they want --- but Deese might be their best chance to bring down the whole operation. Then, they step onto a dirt trail behind Deese's rural Louisiana cabin and find a jungle full of graves. Lucas Davenport is now on the trail of a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice. His quarry is ruthless, and --- as Davenport will come to find --- full of surprises.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525536581
ODD PARTNERS: An Anthology edited by Anne Perry (Mystery/Short Stories)
Throughout the annals of fiction, there have been many celebrated detective teams: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Nick and Nora Charles. Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. That last pair is the creation of beloved mystery writer Anne Perry, who, as the editor of ODD PARTNERS and in conjunction with Mystery Writers of America, has enlisted some of today’s best mystery writers to craft all-new stories about unlikely duos who join forces --- sometimes unwillingly --- to solve beguiling whodunits.
Ballantine Books | 9781524799359
THE PANDORA ROOM by Christopher Golden (Supernatural Thriller)
In one ancient variation on the myth of Pandora’s Box, there were two jars: one for Pandora and one for her sister, Anesidora. One contained all the blessings of the gods, the other all the world’s curses. Now, in a subterranean city in Northern Iraq, archaeologist Sophie Durand has discovered a secret chamber covered in writing that confirms that version of the tale --- a chamber that contains a single jar. Those who believe the myth want to know which jar has been found in the Pandora Room: the one containing blessings, or the one full of curses. Governments rush to lay claim, but jihadi forces aren’t waiting for the dust to settle. Whatever the jar contains, they want it, no matter who they have to kill…or what will emerge when they open it.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250192103
STONE MOTHERS by Erin Kelly (Psychological Thriller)
Marianne was 17 when she fled her home in Nusstead --- leaving behind her family, her boyfriend, Jesse, and the body they buried. Now, 30 years later, forced to return in order to help care for her sick mother, she can feel the past closing around her. And Jesse, who never forgave her for leaving in the first place, is finally threatening to expose the truth. Marianne will do anything to protect the life she's built, the husband and daughter who must never know what happened all those years ago. Even if it means turning to her worst enemy for help. But Marianne may not know the whole story --- and she isn't the only one with secrets they'd kill to keep.
Minotaur Books | 9781250113719
STRONG AS STEEL by Jon Land (Thriller)
1994: Texas Ranger Jim Strong investigates a mass murder on a dusty freight train linked to a mysterious, missing cargo for which no record exists. The Present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself on the trail of that same cargo when skeletal remains are found near an excavation site in the Texas desert. She’s also dealing with the aftermath of a massacre that claimed the lives of all the workers at a private intelligence company on her watch. These two cases are connected by a long-buried secret, one that men have killed and died to protect. Caitlin and her outlaw lover, Cort Wesley Masters, must prove themselves to be as strong as steel to overcome a bloody tide that has been rising for centuries.
Forge Books | 9780765384676
THE VALEDICTORIAN OF BEING DEAD: The True Story of Dying Ten Times to Live by Heather B. Armstrong (Memoir)
For years, Heather B. Armstrong has alluded to her struggle with depression on her website, dooce. But in 2016, Heather found herself in the depths of a depression she just couldn’t shake, an episode darker and longer than anything she had previously experienced. So, for the sake of herself and her family, Heather decided to risk it all by participating in an experimental clinical trial involving a chemically induced coma approximating brain death. Now, for the first time, Heather recalls the torturous 18 months of suicidal depression she endured and the month-long experimental study in which doctors used propofol anesthesia to quiet all brain activity for a full 15 minutes before bringing her back from a flatline. Ten times.
Gallery Books | 9781501197048
WUNDERLAND by Jennifer Cody Epstein (Historical Fiction)
Things had never been easy between Ava Fisher and her estranged mother, Ilse. Too many questions hovered between them: Who was Ava's father? Where had Ilse been during the war? Why had she left her only child in a German orphanage during the war’s final months? But now Ilse’s ashes have arrived from Germany, and, with them, a trove of unsent letters addressed to someone else unknown to Ava: Renate Bauer, a childhood friend. As her mother’s letters unfurl a dark past, Ava spirals deep into the shocking history of a woman she never truly knew.
Crown | 9780525576907
On Sale the Week of April 22nd in Paperback
April 23rd
ALL WE EVER WANTED by Emily Giffin (Fiction)
Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville’s elite. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she has strayed from the person she once was. Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville’s most prestigious private school. Then one photograph, snapped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina and Lyla are forced together --- all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.
Ballantine Books | 9780399178948
BIG GUNS by Steve Israel (Fiction/Satire)
Chicago’s Mayor Michael Rodriguez starts a national campaign to ban handguns from America’s cities, towns and villages. In response, Otis Cogsworth, the wealthy chairman and CEO of Cogsworth International Arms, and lobbyist Sunny McCarthy convince an Arkansas congressman to introduce federal legislation mandating that every American must own a firearm. Events soon escalate. Asabogue’s Mayor Lois Leibowitz passes an ordinance to ban guns in the town --- right in Otis Cogsworth’s backyard. Otis retaliates by orchestrating a recall election against Lois, and Jack Steele, a rich town resident, runs against her. Even though the election is for the mayor of a village on Long Island, Steele brings in the big guns of American politics to defeat Lois.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501118036
BY INVITATION ONLY by Dorothea Benton Frank (Fiction)
The Lowcountry of South Carolina is where BY INVITATION ONLY begins at a barbecue engagement party thrown by Diane English Stiftel to celebrate her son’s engagement. The bride’s father, Alejandro Cambria, discovers the limits and possibilities of cell phone range, while the mother of the bride, Susan Kennedy Cambria, learns about moonshine and dangerous liaisons. Soon the novel zooms to Chicago, where the unraveling accelerates. Nearly a thousand miles away from her comfortable, familiar world, Diane is the antithesis of the bright lights and super-sophisticated guests attending her son Fred’s second engagement party.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062390813
DEATH COMES IN THROUGH THE KITCHEN: A Cuban Mystery by Teresa Dovalpage (Mystery)
Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn’t there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub. With Yarmi’s murder, lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn’t bargain for. The police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what really happened. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fiancée, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all. But did anyone?
Soho Crime | 9781641290197
EUNICE: The Kennedy Who Changed the World by Eileen McNamara (Biography)
While Joe Kennedy was grooming his sons for the White House and the Senate, his Stanford-educated daughter, Eunice, was hijacking her father’s fortune and her brothers’ political power to engineer one of the great civil rights movements of our time on behalf of millions of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Her compassion was born of rage: at the medical establishment that had no answers for her sister Rosemary, at her revered but dismissive father, whose vision for his family did not extend beyond his sons, and at a government that failed to deliver on America’s promise of equality. Now, in EUNICE, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eileen McNamara finally brings Eunice Kennedy Shriver out from her brothers’ shadow.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451642285
THE HUSBAND HOUR by Jamie Brenner (Fiction)
Lauren Adelman and her high school sweetheart, Rory Kincaid, are a golden couple. They marry just out of college as Rory, a star hockey player, earns a spot in the NHL. Their future could not look brighter when Rory shocks everyone by enlisting in the U.S. Army. When Rory dies in combat, Lauren is left devastated and under unbearable public scrutiny. Seeking peace and solitude, Lauren retreats to her family's old beach house on the Jersey Shore. But this summer she's forced to share the house with her overbearing mother and competitive sister. Worse, a stranger making a documentary about Rory tracks her down. One hour with filmmaker Matt Brio turns into a summer of revelations, surprises and upheaval.
Back Bay Books | 9780316394932
PROBABLE CLAWS: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown (Mystery)
With the New Year just around the corner, winter has transformed the cozy Blue Ridge Mountain community of Crozet, Virginia, into a living snow globe. It’s the perfect setting for Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen to build a new work shed designed by her dear friend, local architect Gary Gardner. But the natural serenity is shattered when out of the blue, right in front of Harry and Deputy Cynthia Cooper, Gary is shot to death by a masked motorcyclist. Outraged by the brazen murder, Harry begins to burrow into her friend’s past --- and unearths a pattern of destructive greed reaching far back into Virginia’s post-Revolutionary history. When Harry finds incriminating evidence, the killer strikes again.
Bantam | 9780425287170
PROPERTY: Stories Between Two Novellas by Lionel Shriver (Fiction/Short Stories)
Intermingling settings in America and Britain, Lionel Shriver’s first collection explores property in both senses of the word: real estate and stuff. These 10 short stories and two novellas illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.
Harper Perennial | 9780062697943
SIDE BY SIDE: A Novel of Bonnie and Clyde by Jenni L. Walsh (Historical Fiction)
Texas: 1931. It’s the height of the Great Depression, and Bonnie is miles from Clyde. He’s locked up, and she’s left waiting, their dreams of a life together dwindling every day. When Clyde returns from prison damaged and distant, unable to keep a job and dogged by the cops, Bonnie knows the law will soon come for him. But there’s only one road forward for her. If the world won't give them their American Dream, they'll just have to take it.
Forge Books | 9780765398444
THE SUMMER COTTAGE by Viola Shipman (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Adie Lou Kruger’s ex never understood her affection for what her parents called their Cozy Cottage, the charming, ramshackle summer home --- complete with its own set of rules for relaxing --- that she’s inherited on Lake Michigan. But despite the fact she’s facing a broken marriage and empty nest, and middle age is looming in the distance, memories of happy childhoods on the beach give her reason for hope. She’s determined not to let her husband’s affair with a grad student reduce her to a cliché, or to waste one more minute in a career she doesn’t love, so it becomes clear what Adie Lou must do: rebuild her life and restore her cottage shingle by shingle, on her terms.
Graydon House | 9781525834233
TRANSCRIPTION by Kate Atkinson (Historical Fiction)
In 1940, 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever. Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.
Back Bay Books | 9780316176668
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