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Latest Update on Our GoFundMe Campaign
Thank you to those of you who have donated to our GoFundMe campaign. So far, with online and snail mail donations, we have raised $35,985 of our $50,000 goal.
You can read about our plans and donate here. If you would prefer donating via check, please send to:
The Book Report, Inc.
16 Mt. Bethel Road, Suite 365
Warren, NJ 07059
Thank you again for your consideration and your donation.
Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 21st and September 28th 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 "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com, where three book groups will win 12 copies of WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald, which is now available in paperback. The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, October 7th at noon ET.
Our Next "Bookaccino Live" Event:
Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET
On Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET, we will be hosting our fifth "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books” event. Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between October 13th and November 3rd, along with a few from December, that she thinks will be of interest to our readers. Click here to register. Our room holds up to 500 attendees, so feel free to invite friends! If you already signed up for this session, please do not sign up again. This will help us keep an accurate audience count.
If you missed last week's event, where Carol talked about books coming out from mid-September to early October, along with five November releases, you can watch the presentation here and see a list of the featured titles here.
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
Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events
As so many book and author events are happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.
Wednesday, September 23rd at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": Every Wednesday, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe talk books and writing on their "Friends and Fiction" Facebook group page.
Wednesday, September 23rd at 9pm ET: Tattered Cover Virtual Event: Join Tattered Cover for a virtual event with Craig Johnson, who will be in conversation with "Longmire" actor Lou Diamond Phillips about his new Walt Longmire mystery, NEXT TO LAST STAND.
Thursday, September 24th at 7pm ET: Book Passage Virtual Event: Join Jodi Picoult live on the occasion of the release of her new book, THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS. She will be in conversation with Jojo Moyes, whose most recent novel is THE GIVER OF STARS.
Friday, September 25th at 7pm ET: Toledo Public Library Virtual Event: Toledo Lucas County Public Library presents a virtual event with Kyle Mills, author of the next installment in Vince Flynn’s #1 New York Times bestselling series, TOTAL POWER.
Sunday, September 27th at 7pm ET: The Back Room: Cocktails and Conversations with Your Favorite Authors: Join authors Karen Dionne, Tori Eldridge, Hank Phillippi Ryan and Wendy Walker with guest host Robin Agnew for an evening of great conversation.
Sunday, September 27th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": In a special Sunday edition, the "Friends and Fiction" authors will talk to Christina Lauren, whose soon-to-be-released novel is HOLIDAZE.
Monday, September 28th at 7pm ET: Beyond the Book Jacket: New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult will discuss her new novel, THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS, with Taylor Jenkins Reid, whose most recent book is DAISY JONES & THE SIX.
Tuesday, September 29th at 7pm ET: McNally Jackson Virtual Event: McNally Jackson presents Bill Clegg and David Ebershoff in conversation. Clegg will discuss his new novel, THE END OF THE DAY.
This Week's Bonus News: Our Latest
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.
Our latest prize book is WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald, which is now available in paperback. This uplifting debut novel is about an unlikely heroine whose journey will leave you wanting to embark on a quest of your own...because, after all, we are all legends of our own making. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, October 7th at noon ET.
WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald (Fiction)
For Zelda, a 21-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules:
1. A smile means “thank you for doing something small that I liked.”
2. Fist bumps and dabs = respect.
3. Strange people are not appreciated in her home.
4. Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet.
5. Sometimes the most important things don’t fit on lists.
But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable --- and dangerous --- methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. It isn’t long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to read our review.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of September 21st in Hardcover
September 21st
THE COAST-TO-COAST MURDERS by James Patterson and J. D. Barker (Psychological Thriller)
Michael and Megan Fitzgerald’s parents are public intellectuals, an Ivy League clinical psychologist and a renowned psychiatrist, and they brought up their adopted children in a rarefied, experimental environment. It forced secrets upon them that they keep at all costs. In Los Angeles, Detective Garrett Dobbs and FBI Agent Jessica Gimble have joined forces to work a murder that seems like a dead cinch. Their chief suspect is quickly identified and apprehended. But then there's another killing just like the one they've been investigating. And another. And not just in Los Angeles. The Fitzgerald family comes to the investigators' attention, but Dobbs and Gimble are at a loss. If one of the four is involved, which Fitzgerald might it be?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316457422
September 22nd
ADRIANNE GEFFEL: A Fiction by David Hajdu (Fiction)
Adrianne Geffel was a one-of-a-kind artist, a pianist and composer with a rare neurological condition that enabled her to make music that was nothing less than pure, unmediated emotional expression. She and her sensibility are now fully integrated into the cultural lexicon; her music has been portrayed, represented and appropriated endlessly in popular culture. But what do we really know about her? Despite her renown, Geffel vanished from public life, and her whereabouts remain a mystery to this day. David Hajdu cuts through the noise to tell the full story of Geffel’s life and work, piecing it together through the memories of those who knew her, inspired her and exploited her --- her parents, teachers, best friend, manager, critics and lovers.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393634228
AND NOW SHE'S GONE by Rachel Howzell Hall (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Isabel Lincoln is gone. But is she missing? It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family. Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall's AND NOW SHE'S GONE explores the nature of secrets --- and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.
Forge Books | 9781250753175
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult (Fiction)
Dawn Edelstein is on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but of a man she last saw 15 years ago: Wyatt Armstrong, who is now somewhere in Egypt working as an archaeologist. After the crash landing, the airline offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways --- the first known map of the afterlife.
Ballantine Books | 9781984818355
CONDITIONAL CITIZENS: On Belonging in America by Laila Lalami (Memoir/Essays)
Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of the rights, liberties and protections that are traditionally associated with American citizenship. Tapping into history, politics and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth --- such as national origin, race and gender --- that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today. Lalami poignantly illustrates how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation, with the result that a caste system is maintained that keeps the modern equivalent of white male landowners at the top of the social hierarchy. Conditional citizens, she argues, are all the people with whom America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.
Pantheon | 9781524747169
DANCING WITH THE OCTOPUS: A Memoir of a Crime by Debora Harding (Memoir)
When Debora Harding was just 14, she was abducted at knifepoint from a church parking lot. She was thrown into a van, assaulted, held for ransom and left to die. Debora survived. She identified her attacker to the police and then returned to her teenage life in a dysfunctional home where she was expected to simply move on. Denial became the family coping strategy offered by her fun-loving, conflicted father and her cruelly resentful mother. It wasn't until decades later --- when beset by the symptoms of PTSD --- that Debora undertook a radical project: she met her childhood attacker face-to-face in prison and began to reconsider and reimagine his complex story.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635576122
DAUGHTERS OF THE WILD by Natalka Burian (Fiction/Magical Realism)
In rural West Virginia, Joanie and her foster siblings live on a farm tending a mysterious plant called the vine. The older girls are responsible for cultivating the vine, performing sacred rituals to make it grow. After Joanie’s arranged marriage goes horribly wrong, leaving her widowed and with a baby, she plots her escape with the help of her foster brother, Cello. But before they can get away, her baby goes missing, and Joanie --- desperate to find him --- turns to the vine, understanding it to be far more powerful than her siblings realize. She begins performing generations-old rituals to summon the vine’s power and goes on a perilous journey into the wild, pushing the boundaries of her strength and sanity to bring her son home.
Park Row | 9780778310013
ELI'S PROMISE by Ronald H. Balson (Historical Fiction)
1939: Eli Rosen lives with his wife, Esther, and their young son in the Polish town of Lublin, where his family owns a construction company. As a consequence of the Nazi occupation, Eli’s company is Aryanized, appropriated and transferred to Maximilian Poleski, an unprincipled profiteer who will keep the Rosen family safe if Eli will manage the business. 1946: Eli resides with his son in a displaced persons camp in Allied-occupied Germany hoping for a visa to America. His wife has been missing since the war. One man is sneaking around the camps selling illegal visas. Might he know what has happened to her? 1965: Eli rents a room in Albany Park, Chicago. He navigates unfamiliar streets and dangerous political backrooms, searching for the truth.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250271464
THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU'LL MEET IN PRISON: A Memoir of Addiction, Mania & Hope by Brandon M. Stickney (Memoir)
After years of hedonism in the literary life, journalist Brandon M. Stickney is caught in an opiate epidemic drug sting and sentenced to prison. Surrounded by society's most troubled individuals and hostile guards, Stickney faces his addiction and mental illness behind the razor wire. Searching for answers, he befriends four inmates and a guard who help change his life. Haunted by severe cravings, nights of mania and threatened by prison's evils, he clings to hope, learning that recovery is possible, even in the darkest of places. Startling yet humorous, THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU'LL MEET IN PRISON is part memoir, part exposé on the largest of America's industries: prison.
Bancroft Press | 9781610881968
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND: A Jonathan Stride Novel by Brian Freeman (Mystery/Thriller)
Jonathan Stride's best friend, Steve Garske, makes a shocking deathbed confession: he protected Stride by covering up a murder. Hours later, the police dig up Steve's yard and find a body with a bullet hole in its skull. Stride is pretty sure he knows who it is. Seven years ago, an out-of-town reporter disappeared while investigating anonymous allegations of rape against a prominent politician. Back then, the police believed that the reporter drowned at a dangerous swimming hole called the Deeps, but the discovery of the body changes everything. Now Stride's partner, Maggie Bei, is forced to ask Stride an uncomfortable question: Did you kill him? Stride is obviously hiding things. He was the last person to see the reporter alive. And he admits lying to Maggie about that meeting, but he won't tell her why.
Blackstone Publishing | 9781982663728
GODS AT PLAY: An Eyewitness Account of Great Moments in American Sports by Tom Callahan (Sports/History)
As a columnist for Time magazine, among many other publications, Tom Callahan witnessed an extraordinary number of defining moments in American sport across four decades. He takes us from Roberto Clemente clinching his 3,000th, and final, regular-season hit in Pittsburgh; to ringside for the Muhammad Ali–George Foreman fight in Zaire; and to Arthur Ashe announcing, at a news conference, that he’d tested positive for HIV. There are also little-known private moments: Joe Morgan whispering thank you to a virtually blind Jackie Robinson on the field at the 1972 World Series, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar saying he was more interested in being a good man than in being the greatest basketball player.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324004271
HENCH by Natalie Zina Walschots (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy? As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured. So, of course, then she gets laid off. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks. It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.
William Morrow | 9780062978578
HERE WE ARE by Graham Swift (Historical Fiction)
It's the summer of 1959, and something magical can be witnessed at the end of the pier in beach town Brighton, England. Jack Robbins, Ronnie Deane and Evie White are performing in a seaside variety show. By the end of the summer, Evie's engagement ring will be flung to the bottom of the ocean and one of the trifecta will vanish forever. All three friends begin their path toward the end of Brighton's pier early in life. Ronnie's mother sends her son out in the child evacuations to Penny and Eric Lawrence for safety from the London blitz. It's within the safety and love of Evergrene, the Lawrences' estate, that magic creeps into Ronnie's life for the first time and starts the intricate intertwining of fate, chance and show business.
Knopf | 9780525658054
THE LAST AGENT by Robert Dugoni (Thriller)
Former spy Charles Jenkins, who survived an undercover Russian operation gone wrong, learns of a woman isolated in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison. If it’s Paulina Ponomayova, the agent who sacrificed her life to save his, Jenkins can’t leave her behind. But there’s no guarantee it’s her. Or proof Paulina is still alive. To find out, Jenkins must return to Russia. Next move: blackmail Viktor Federov, a former Russian officer with his own ax to grind, into helping him infiltrate Lefortovo. The enemy who once pursued Jenkins across three continents is now the only man Jenkins can trust. Every step of the way, they’re hunted by a brutal Russian agent on a killer quest of his own.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542014984
MAKE THEM CRY by Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith (Thriller)
A former prosecutor notorious for her aggressive tactics, Diane Harbaugh is now a DEA agent. But when she hears from Gustavo, a high-ranking cartel member with an invaluable secret about the international black market, her entire understanding of justice and duty is thrown into question. Gustavo sends her down a rabbit hole that leads to a criminal conspiracy more pervasive than anything she and the DEA ever suspected. She teams up with Ian Carver, a disillusioned CIA agent, and begins to unravel layers of deceptions, grifts and schemes that date back to the beginnings of the Afghanistan War. As they learn more, they become the target of cartel assassins, embittered spies and even their own
government.
Ecco | 9780062825179
NEXT TO LAST STAND: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
One of the most viewed paintings in American history, Custer's Last Fight, copied and distributed by Anheuser-Busch at a rate of over two million copies a year, was destroyed in a fire at the 7th Cavalry Headquarters in Fort Bliss, Texas, in 1946. Or was it? When Charley Lee Stillwater dies of an apparent heart attack at the Wyoming Home for Soldiers & Sailors, Walt Longmire is called in to try and make sense of a piece of a painting and a Florsheim shoebox containing a million dollars, sending the good sheriff on the trail of a dangerous art heist.
Viking | 9780525522539
SEX WITH PRESIDENTS: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House by Eleanor Herman (History)
While Americans have a reputation for being strait-laced, many of the nation’s leaders have been anything but puritanical. In this entertaining and eye-opening book, Eleanor Herman revisits some of the sex scandals that have rocked the nation's capital and shocked the public, while asking the provocative questions: Does rampant adultery show a lack of character or the stamina needed to run the country? Or perhaps both? While Americans have judged their leaders' affairs harshly compared to other nations, did they mostly just hate being lied to? And do they now clearly care more about issues other than a politician’s sex life?
William Morrow | 9780062970565
THREE-RING CIRCUS: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman (Sports)
In the history of modern sport, there have never been two high-level teammates who loathed each other the way Shaquille O’Neal loathed Kobe Bryant, and Kobe Bryant loathed Shaquille O’Neal. From public sniping and sparring, to physical altercations and the repeated threats of trade, it was warfare. And yet, despite eight years of infighting and hostility, by turns mediated and encouraged by coach Phil Jackson, the Shaq-Kobe duo resulted in one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. Together, the two led the Lakers to three straight championships and returned glory and excitement to Los Angeles.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328530004
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman (Mystery)
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes. Together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?
Pamela Dorman Books | 9781984880963
TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH by Gilly Macmillan (Psychological Thriller)
Lucy Harper’s talent for writing bestselling novels has given her fame, fortune and millions of fans. It’s also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere. Now Dan has vanished. But this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago, her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found. Lucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddy’s disappearance. But now Lucy is a grown woman who can’t hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny. Could she have hurt Teddy? Did she kill Dan? Finally, now, Lucy Harper is going to tell the truth.
William Morrow | 9780062875587
THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation by Lynne Cheney (History)
From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents --- a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a 60-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day.
Viking | 9781101980040
On Sale the Week of September 21st in Paperback
September 22nd
CARI MORA by Thomas Harris (Thriller)
Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men. Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status, subject to the iron whim of ICE. She works at many jobs to survive. Beautiful and marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538750124
THE CHAIN by Adrian McKinty (Psychological Thriller)
Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything. It's a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn't do as she's told, the boy will die. Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals --- and is making someone else very rich in the process.
Mulholland Books | 9780316531238
CLEAR MY NAME by Paula Daly (Psychological Thriller)
When Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. Now she’s three years into her 15-year sentence, gradually losing hope and separated from her pregnant daughter, but she is still maintaining her innocence. Tess is the only paid employee of Innocence UK, a charity that helps clear people wrongfully convicted of crimes, and accepts Carrie’s case. Meanwhile, Tess is also paired with Avril, a naïve young investigator-in-training, but unexpectedly bolts when she’s tipped off to a witness who could possibly prove Carrie didn’t commit the crime. While Tess and Avril work the case, re-interviewing witnesses and testing assumptions made at the time of the arrest, the tension ratchets up in both the case and Tess’ personal life.
Grove Press | 9780802157317
ELEMENTS OF FICTION by Walter Mosley (Writing/Reference)
In his essential writing guide, THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL, Walter Mosley supplied aspiring writers with the basic tools to write a novel in one year. In this complementary follow-up, he guides the writer through the elements of not just any fiction writing, but the kind of writing that transcends convention and truly stands out. In a series of instructive and conversational chapters, Mosley demonstrates how to master fiction's most essential elements: character and character development, plot and story, voice and narrative, context and description, and more. The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process from the blank page to the first draft to rewriting and rewriting again.
Grove Press | 9780802157355
FENTANYL, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic by Ben Westhoff (Social Science/Current Affairs)
A deeply human story, FENTANYL, INC. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. Drugs like fentanyl, K2 and Spice --- and those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe --- were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs’ effects impossible to predict. Ben Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world.
Grove Press | 9780802157379
FRANKISSSTEIN: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson (Horror/Romance)
Lake Geneva, 1816. Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley is inspired to write a story about a scientist who creates a new life-form. In Brexit Britain, a young transgender doctor called Ry is falling in love with Victor Stein, a celebrated professor leading the public debate around AI and carrying out some experiments of his own in a vast underground network of tunnels. Meanwhile, Ron Lord, just divorced and living with his mom again, is set to make his fortune launching a new generation of sex dolls for lonely men everywhere. Across the Atlantic, in Phoenix, Arizona, a cryogenics facility houses dozens of bodies of men and women who are medically and legally dead… but waiting to return to life. What will happen when homo sapiens is no longer the smartest being on the planet?
Grove Press | 9780802149398
MORTMAIN HALL: A Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery by Martin Edwards (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
In 1930, a chilling encounter on London's Necropolis Railway leads to murder, and a man escapes the gallows after a witness gives sensational evidence. After this string of strange, fatal events, journalist Jacob Flint discovers that he has been framed for murder. To save himself, he flees to Mortmain Hall, a remote estate on the northern coast. There, an eccentric female criminologist hosts a gathering of eclectic people who have all escaped miscarriages of cruel justice. When a body is found beneath the cliffs near the house, it seems this gathering might be an ingenious plot to get away with murder. Jacob must now set out to uncover the labyrinthine of secrets within Mortmain Hall, alongside Rachel Savernake, a woman whose relentless quest for the truth might just bring down the British establishment.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464214059
MR. DICKENS AND HIS CAROL by Samantha Silva (Historical Fiction)
Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, and relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in. Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs.
Flatiron Books | 9781250154057
THE NOBODIES by Liza Palmer (Fiction/Humor)
If there's one thing Joan Dixon knows about herself, it's that she is a damn good journalist. But when she is laid off from yet another soon-to-be-shuttered newspaper, and even the soulless, listicle-writing online jobs have dried up, she is left with few options. So she goes to work as a junior copywriter at Bloom, a Los Angeles startup where her bosses are all a decade younger. For once, Joan has a steady paycheck and a stable job. She befriends a group of misfit coworkers and even begins a real relationship. But once a journalist, always a journalist, and as Joan starts to poke beneath Bloom’s bright surface, she realizes that she may have accidentally stumbled onto the scoop of her lifetime. Is it worth risking everything for the sake of the story?
Flatiron Books | 9781250751232
RAG AND BONE: A Jay Porter Novel by Joe Clifford (Mystery/Thriller)
Having spent 10 months on the run after he was framed for the murder of an estate-clearing associate, handyman Jay Porter returns to his hometown of Ashton, New Hampshire. During his time as a fugitive, he searched for a hard drive --- evidence that would put his longtime nemeses Adam and Michael Lombardi behind bars. But he came up empty-handed. With his reputation tarnished and employment opportunities nonexistent, Jay takes a charity assignment from old friend/flame Alison Rodgers and learns of a fire at Alison’s former rehab farm. Jay is convinced that the Lombardis started the fire as a scare tactic to pressure Alison to sell. But he soon discovers that evil isn’t so easy to define, and sometimes we need to take the law into our own hands if we want justice.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608093915
THE WHISPERS OF WAR by Julia Kelly (Historical Fiction)
In August of 1939, as Britain watches the headlines in fear of another devastating war with Germany, three childhood friends must choose between friendship or country. Erstwhile socialite Nora is determined to find her place in the Home Office’s Air Raid Precautions Department, matchmaker Hazel tries to mask two closely guarded secrets with irrepressible optimism, and German expat Marie worries that she and her family might face imprisonment in an internment camp if war is declared. When Germany invades Poland and tensions on the home front rise, Marie is labeled an enemy alien, and the three friends find themselves fighting together to keep her free at any cost.
Gallery Books | 9781982107802
WILL MY CAT EAT MY EYEBALLS?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty (Sociology)
Everyone has questions about death. In WILL MY CAT EAT MY EYEBALLS?, bestselling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers the most intriguing questions she’s ever received about what happens to our bodies when we die. She explores everything from ancient Egyptian death rituals and the science of skeletons to flesh-eating insects and the proper depth at which to bury your pet if you want Fluffy to become a mummy. Now featuring an interview with a clinical expert on discussing these issues with young people --- the source of some of our most revealing questions about death --- the book confronts our common fear of dying with candid, honest and hilarious facts about what awaits the body we leave behind.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393358490
On Sale the Week of September 28th in Hardcover
September 29th
BATTLE GROUND: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Urban Fantasy)
Harry Dresden has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders. But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way. Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago and the mortal world forever.
Ace | 9780593199305
BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang (Fiction)
One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman’s body. She was called Hu Gu Po, and she hungered to eat children, especially their toes. Soon afterward, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the backyard spit up letters penned by her grandmother; a visiting aunt arrives with snakes in her belly; a brother tests the possibility of flight. All the while, Daughter is falling for Ben, a neighborhood girl with strange powers of her own. As the two young lovers translate the grandmother’s letters, Daughter begins to understand that each woman in her family embodies a myth --- and that she will have to bring her family’s secrets to light in order to change their destiny.
One World | 9780593132586
THE BOOK OF LAMPS AND BANNERS: A Cass Neary Novel by Elizabeth Hand (Hard-boiled Mystery/Thriller)
Photographer Cass Neary is desperate to get home, and she's already lost her camera --- like losing a limb. Now her only chance is to cash in on a deal that a friend is about to cut for a legendary illuminated manuscript: The Book of Lamps and Banners. Rumored to have been rescued from the Library at Alexandria, the Book is said to contain ancient esoteric knowledge, even an otherworldly power. So when an intruder brazenly steals the manuscript, Cass and her ex-con lover Quinn must get it back --- plunging headlong into a shady underworld where antiquarian booksellers, unhinged tech entrepreneurs and brutal nationalists all converge.
Mulholland Books | 9780316485937
BURNING ROSES by S. L. Huang (Fantasy/Adventure)
Rosa, also known as Red Riding Hood, is done with wolves and woods. Hou Yi the Archer is tired and knows she is past her prime. Both would rather just be retired, but that’s not what the world has ready for them. When deadly sunbirds begin to ravage the countryside, threatening everything they’ve both grown to love, the two must join forces. Now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, they begin a quest that’s a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family and the quest for immortality.
Tor.com | 9781250763990
CHRISTMAS CUPCAKE MURDER: A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes! by Joanne Fluke (Mystery)
Hannah Swensen’s sister, Andrea, wants to stave off the blues by helping out at The Cookie Jar, Michele’s love life is becoming complicated, Lisa needs Hannah’s advice, and Delores has a Christmas secret she’s not willing to share. But nothing dampens the holiday mood more than the chilling mystery surrounding the man found near death in an abandoned storefront two doors down from Hannah’s bakery. The befuddled John Doe can’t recall a thing about himself --- except for his unusual knowledge of restoring antique furniture. With a smattering of clues and barely enough time to frost Christmas cookies, Hannah must solve a deadly puzzle that could leave her dashing through the snow for her life!
Kensington | 9781496729125
THE CONSTANT RABBIT by Jasper Fforde (Fantasy)
England, 2022. There are 1.2 million human-size rabbits living in the UK. They can walk, talk, drive cars, and they like to read Voltaire, the result of an Inexplicable Anthropomorphizing Event 55 years before. A family of rabbits is about to move into Much Hemlock, a cozy little village in Middle England. No sooner have the rabbits arrived than the villagers decide they must depart, citing their propensity to burrow and breed, and their shameless levels of veganism. But Mrs Constance Rabbit and her family decide they are going to stay. Unusually, their neighbors --- longtime resident Peter Knox and his daughter, Pippa --- decide to stand with them…and soon discover that you can be a friend to rabbits or humans, but not both.
Viking | 9780593296523
THE DAUGHTERS OF YALTA: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War by Catherine Grace Katz (History)
Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta. Kathleen Harriman was a champion skier, war correspondent and daughter of U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devoted to her brilliant father, who depended on her astute political mind. Roosevelt’s only daughter, Anna, chosen instead of her mother Eleanor to accompany the president to Yalta, arrived there as keeper of her father’s most damaging secrets.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780358117858
A DEADLY EDUCATION by Naomi Novik (Fantasy)
Every sorcerer has a gift: a talent for transformation, a taste for combat magic. And mastering their gifts in a unique magical academy means a chance of being invited into the enclaves, the world’s magical elite. El Higgins’ talent is for mass destruction. She protects herself from the scorn of the other magicians with her mordant wit and defiant spirit. But she also hopes that one day she will join a prestigious enclave, and that means ingratiating herself with the powerful and the privileged. That includes Orion Lake: rich, beloved and the most celebrated magician of his generation. But what she comes to learn about Orion opens her eyes to some shocking truths about herself, the school and their world.
Del Rey | 9780593128480
THE END OF THE DAY by Bill Clegg (Fiction)
A retired widow in rural Connecticut wakes to an unexpected visit from her childhood best friend whom she hasn’t seen in 49 years. A man arrives at a Pennsylvania hotel to introduce his estranged father to his newborn daughter and finds him collapsed on the floor of the lobby. A 67-year-old taxi driver in Kauai receives a phone call from the mainland that jars her back to a traumatic past. These seemingly disconnected lives come together as half-century-old secrets begin to surface. It is in this moment that Bill Clegg reminds us how choices --- to connect, to betray, to protect --- become our legacy.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781476798202
JACK by Marilynne Robinson (Fiction)
Marilynne Robinson’s mythical world of Gilead, Iowa --- the setting of her novels GILEAD, HOME and LILA --- and its beloved characters have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions and the wonders of a sacred world. JACK is the fourth novel in this now-classic series. In it, Robinson tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the prodigal son of Gilead’s Presbyterian minister, and his romance with Della Miles, a high school teacher who is also the child of a preacher. Their deeply felt, tormented, star-crossed interracial romance resonates with all the paradoxes of American life, then and now.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374279301
JUST LIKE YOU by Nick Hornby (Fiction)
Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she'd been handed. She met a guy just like herself; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable. Now, two decades later, she's a nearly divorced 41-year-old teacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn't exactly looking for love --- she's more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is 22, living at home with his mother and working several jobs. It's not a match anyone one could have predicted. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.
Riverhead Books | 9780593191385
THE LAKEHOUSE by Joe Clifford (Psychological Thriller)
After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Todd Norman returns to her small Connecticut hometown in order to finish building their dream house by the lake. He is eager to restart his life and cast aside any remaining suspicions...but all of that is dashed when a young woman’s body washes up on the beach next door. When Tracy Somerset, a divorced mother from the small town of Covenant, CT, meets a handsome stranger in a midnight Walmart, she has no idea she is speaking with Todd Norman, the former Wall Street financier dubbed “The Banker Butcher” by the New York tabloids. The following morning, on the beach by Norman’s back-under-construction lakehouse, another young woman’s body is discovered.
Polis Books | 9781951709105
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig (Fiction)
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe, there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Confronted with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
Viking | 9780525559474
THE REACHER GUY: A Biography of Lee Child by Heather Martin (Biography)
Lee Child has a great public persona: he is gracious and generous with readers and fans. But Jim Grant is a reticent and very private man. This rags-to-riches literary and social biography is based principally on disarmingly frank personal conversations and correspondence with the author since 2016 and privileged access to archival materials. It consists almost entirely of original material, and is the nearest thing the world is likely to get to the autobiography he does not intend to write. There are a handful of great Lee Child/Reacher stories that have been recycled over and over again. They are so good that no one has bothered to look beyond them. This book revisits (and sometimes revises) those irresistible stories, but goes back further and digs deeper. The emphasis on chronology, accuracy and specificity is unprecedented.
Pegasus Books | 9781643135861
THE RETURN by Nicholas Sparks (Romance)
Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, North Carolina. But when a mortar blast sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, the dilapidated cabin he'd inherited from his grandfather seemed as good a place to regroup as any. Trevor isn't prepared to fall in love with a local. Yet, from their very first encounter, he feels a connection with deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson that he can't ignore. But she remains frustratingly distant, making him wonder what she's hiding. Trevor hopes that Callie, a sullen teenage girl who lives down the road, can shed light on the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather's death. She offers few clues --- until a crisis triggers a race to uncover the true nature of her past.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538728574
THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL by Emily Gray Tedrowe (Thriller)
At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finally recovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a rumored 900 percent profit. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make. But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small town of Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely --- a quiet single woman known as Becky who works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller. How long can the talented Miss Farwell continue to pull off her double life?
Custom House | 9780062897725
UNRESTRICTED ACCESS: New and Classic Short Fiction by James Rollins (Thriller/Short Stories)
In his first-ever anthology, James Rollins brings together 12 stories that dig a little deeper into his creative stomping grounds and open vistas into new landscapes and characters. At the center of the book is the never-before-published novella "Sun Dogs.” While trekking through the Sonora desert, a gunshot thrusts Tucker and Kane into an adventure that challenges their considerable skills. The discovery of secrets known only to the native tribes of Arizona threatens to unleash an ancient force that could irreparably alter the future. It also forces Tucker to make a terrible choice that will shatter his relationship with his soul-bonded companion, Kane. As these partners learn, nothing remains buried forever and old debts must be paid, no matter the cost.
William Morrow | 9780062686800
WHALE DAY: And Other Poems by Billy Collins (Poetry)
Billy Collins’ new collection brings together more than 50 poems and showcases his deft mixing of the playful and the serious that has made him one of our country’s most celebrated and widely read poets. Here are poems that leap with whimsy and imagination, yet stay grounded in the familiar, common things of everyday experience. Collins takes us for a walk with an impossibly ancient dog, discovers the original way to eat a banana, meets an Irish spider, and even invites us to his own funeral. Sensitive to the wonders of being alive as well as the thrill of mortality, WHALE DAY builds on and amplifies Collins’ reputation as one of America’s most interesting and durable poets.
Random House | 9780399589751
October 1st
THE UNSPOKEN: An Ashe Cayne Novel by Ian K. Smith (Mystery)
After refusing to participate in a police department cover-up involving the death of a young black man, Ashe Cayne is pushed out of the force. But he's compelled to fight for justice as a private investigator...even if it means putting himself in jeopardy. When a young woman, Tinsley Gerrigan, goes missing, her wealthy parents hire Cayne to find her. As Cayne looks into her life and past, he uncovers secrets Tinsley has been hiding from her family. His worries spike when Tinsley's boyfriend is found dead --- another black man murdered on the tough Chicago streets. Cayne must navigate his complicated relationships within the Chicago PD, leveraging his contacts and police skills to find the missing young woman, see justice done and earn his redemption.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542025270
On Sale the Week of September 28th in Paperback
September 29th
BURN YOU TWICE by Mary Burton (Romantic Suspense)
Paperback Original
Ten years ago as an undergrad, Joan Mason escaped an arsonist’s fire. Now a Philadelphia homicide detective, she is trying to put her traumas to rest. But Elijah Weston, the classmate who torched her house, is out of prison and returning to Missoula. Gut instinct tells Joan he’ll strike again. To stop him, she must return to the past as well --- to face not only the man she fears but also Detective Gideon Bailey, the man she loved and left behind. When a local woman dies tragically in another fire, it can’t be a coincidence. Can it be Elijah? He has a solid alibi for the night of the blaze. Reunited by the tragedy, Joan and Gideon have their doubts. The investigation draws them together, but it also sends them down a dangerous path.
Montlake | 9781542021289
CHILDREN OF THE LAND: A Memoir by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (Memoir)
When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. Castillo regained his vision, but quickly understood that he had to move into a threshold of invisibility before settling in California with his parents and siblings. Thus began a new life of hiding in plain sight and paying extraordinarily careful attention at all times for fear of being truly seen. Before Castillo was one of the most celebrated poets of a generation, he was a boy who perfected his English in the hopes that he might never seem extraordinary. In CHILDREN OF THE LAND, Castillo recounts his and his family’s encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives.
Harper Perennial | 9780062825636
CHRISTMAS SHOPAHOLIC by Sophie Kinsella (Fiction)
’Tis the season for change, and Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is embracing it, returning from the States to live in the charming village of Letherby and working with her best friend, Suze, in the gift shop of Suze’s stately home. Life is good, especially now that Becky takes time every day for mindfulness…which actually means listening to a meditation tape while hunting down online bargains. But Becky still adores the traditions of Christmas. Things are looking cheerier than ever, until Becky’s parents announce they’re moving to ultra-trendy Shoreditch --- unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avocados --- and ask Becky if she’ll host this year. What could possibly go wrong?
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593132838
CROOKED RIVER: A Pendergast Novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Appearing out of nowhere to horrify the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida, dozens of identical, ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and are washed up on the tropical beach --- each one with a crudely severed human foot inside. In short order, Agent Pendergast finds himself facing the most complex and inexplicable challenge of his career: a tangled thread of evidence that spans seas and traverses continents, connected to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern medical science. Through shocking twists and turns, all trails lead back to a powerful adversary with a sadistic agenda and who --- in a cruel irony --- ultimately sees in Pendergast the ideal subject for their malevolent research.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538702963
CURIOUS TOYS by Elizabeth Hand (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
In the sweltering summer of 1915, Pin, the 14-year-old daughter of a carnival fortune-teller, dresses as a boy and joins a teenage gang that roams the famous Riverview amusement park, looking for trouble. Unbeknownst to the well-heeled city-dwellers and visitors who come to enjoy the midway, the park is also host to a ruthless killer who uses the shadows of the dark carnival attractions to conduct his crimes. When Pin sees a man enter the Hell Gate ride with a young girl, and emerge alone, she knows that something horrific has occurred. The crime will lead her to the iconic outsider artist Henry Darger, a brilliant but seemingly mad man. Together, the two navigate the seedy underbelly of a changing city to uncover a murderer few even know to look for.
Mulholland Books | 9780316485913
DACHSHUND THROUGH THE SNOW: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, have started a new Christmas tradition. Their local pet store has a Christmas tree, where instead of ornaments there are wishes from those in need. One poignant wish leads Andy to a child named Danny, whose selfless plea strikes a chord. Danny asked Santa for a coat for his mother, a sweater for his dachshund, Murphy, and the safe return of his missing father. It turns out Danny’s father doesn't want to be found; he’s on the run after just being arrested for a murder that took place 14 years ago --- a murder that Danny’s mother swears he didn’t commit.
Minotaur Books | 9781250753489
FINAL OPTION: A Novel of the Oregon Files by Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison (Thriller/Adventure)
When the CIA realizes that the identities of three American spies in Brazil have been compromised, they turn to Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon to rescue the agents. What seems like a routine operation turns out to be a trap designed by Cabrillo's greatest enemy, a man driven by hate to seek the ultimate revenge. At the heart of the plot is a state-of-the-art ship that is identical to the Oregon: same weaponry, same technology, same ability to evade capture. The crew of the Oregon must piece together a series of disturbing events, including the mysterious sinking of a nuclear attack submarine and the possible discovery of a WWII-era weapon that was thought to be lost in the jungles of Brazil, in the ultimate game of cat and mouse.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525541837
FURIOUS HOURS: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep (True Crime/Biography)
Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell’s murderer was acquitted --- thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called "The Reverend." Casey Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.
Vintage | 9781101972052
KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM CRY by Mary Higgins Clark (Mystery/Thriller)
When investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email from a “CRyan” describing her “terrible experience” while working at REL, a high-profile television news network, Gina knows she has to pursue the story. But when Ryan goes silent, Gina is shocked to discover the young woman has died tragically in a jet ski accident. Meanwhile, several female employees have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. REL counsel Michael Carter approaches the CEO, offering to persuade the victims to accept settlements in exchange for their silence. Was Ryan’s death truly an accident? And when another accuser turns up dead, Gina realizes someone will go to depraved lengths to keep the story from seeing the light.
Pocket Books | 9781501171772
MR. NOBODY by Catherine Steadman (Psychological Thriller)
When a man is found on a British beach with no identification and unable to speak, interest in him is sparked immediately. From the hospital staff who find themselves inexplicably drawn to him, to international medical experts who are baffled by him, to the national press who call him Mr. Nobody, everyone wants answers. Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Emma Lewis is asked to assess the patient in a small town deep in the English countryside. Emma left this same town 14 years ago and has taken great pains to cover all traces of her past since then. But now something --- or someone --- is calling her back. And the more time she spends with her patient, the more alarmed she becomes that he knows the one thing about her that nobody is supposed to know.
Ballantine Books | 9781524797706
ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS by Sheila Roberts (Romance)
Paperback Original
Catherine Pine is hoping her Christmas is a bit more jolly than last year’s. That one was her first without her husband, and with her kids and their families absent this year, she’s worried. But things change when her good friend invites her on a Christmas cruise to lift her spirits. Suddenly every day is an adventure, and she’s making a bunch of new friends, including the lovable Sophie Miles. It’s like a gift from Santa when Sophie and Catherine meet the charming Dr. Rudy Nichols, a perfect match for hypochondriac Sophie. But he comes with a two-legged lump of coal, his guard-dog daughter. And then there’s chocolatier Trevor March, who’s also interested in the scrumptious Sophie.
Mira | 9780778360926
THINGS IN JARS by Jess Kidd (Gothic Mystery)
Bridie Devine --- female detective extraordinaire --- is confronted with the most baffling puzzle yet: the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, secret daughter of Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, and a peculiar child whose reputed supernatural powers have captured the unwanted attention of collectors trading curiosities in this age of discovery. Winding her way through the labyrinthine, sooty streets of Victorian London, Bridie won’t rest until she finds the young girl, even if it means unearthing a past that she’d rather keep buried. Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot-tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where spectacle is king and nothing is quite what it seems.
Washington Square Press | 9781982121297
THE TOPEKA SCHOOL by Ben Lerner (Fiction)
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting "lost boys" to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart --- who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father’s patient --- into the social scene, to disastrous effect.
Picador | 9781250758002
TREASON: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Upon returning to New York City after a whirlwind British excursion, Stone Barrington is notified of a delicate situation within the country's administration. A close friend requires his expertise and subtlety to eradicate a destructive presence in a classified agency --- only it soon becomes clear that this renegade was sent by a rival Stone has encountered before. From the City of Light to the rocky Maine coastline, Stone will need to summon all his wit and daring to halt the audacious plots threatening to reveal confidential intel, and catch the evasive traitor at last. This enemy may be equipped with unlimited resources and devious schemes, but if Stone remains vigilant, justice may finally prevail.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593083208
October 1st
DEVOTED by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
Woody Bookman hasn’t spoken a word in his 11 years of life. Not when his father died in a freak accident. Not when his mother, Megan, tells him she loves him. For Megan, keeping her boy safe and happy is what matters. But Woody believes a monstrous evil was behind his father’s death and now threatens him and his mother. And he’s not alone in his thoughts. An ally unknown to him is listening. A uniquely gifted dog, Kipp is devoted beyond reason to people. When he hears the boy who communicates like he does, without speaking, Kipp knows he needs to find him before it’s too late. Woody’s fearful suspicions are taking shape. A man driven by a malicious evil has set a depraved plan into motion. And he’s coming after Woody and his mother.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542019514
MILLICENT GLENN’S LAST WISH by Tori Whitaker (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Millicent Glenn is self-sufficient and contentedly alone. As she nears her 91st birthday, her daughter Jane, with whom she’s weathered a shaky relationship, suddenly moves back home. Then Millie’s granddaughter shares that she’s pregnant. For Millie, the news stirs heartbreaking memories of a past she’s kept hidden for too long. Maybe it’s time she shared something. Millie’s last wish? For Jane to forgive her. Sixty years ago Millie had a husband she adored, a job of her own, a precious baby girl, and another child on the way. Until one irreversible moment shattered everything, reshaping Millie’s life and the lives of generations to come. As Millie’s old wounds are exposed, so are the secrets she’s kept for so long. Finally revealing them to her daughter might be the greatest risk a mother could take in the name of love.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781542023313
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