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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 26th and August 2nd 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 very special contest for LIGHTNING STRIKE, a prequel to William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series, which releases on August 24th. We are giving 25 readers the opportunity to win an advance copy of the book. In addition, one Grand Prize winner will receive signed copies of all 18 Cork O’Connor mysteries! The deadline for your entries is Friday, August 6th at noon ET. If you enjoyed ORDINARY GRACE and THIS TENDER LAND, you will love LIGHTNING STRIKE!
We have two new "Bookreporter Talks To" interviews to share with you in this newsletter. First up is Megan Miranda, whose latest novel, SUCH A QUIET PLACE, is a locked-in thriller. The setting is the idyllic neighborhood of Hollow's Edge, where everybody looks out for one another. The community is reeling from the murder of two neighbors, Brandon and Fiona Truett, and a year later, this cozy oasis has become stifling. The residents can't sell their houses, and tensions are still at a high. One of the neighbors, Ruby Fletcher, was found guilty of murdering the Truetts, but her conviction was overturned and she has waltzed back into the neighborhood. Now Hollow's Edge turns on itself, and threatening notes are being spread. As they start to wonder who the next victim will be, Harper Nash, who lived with Ruby, is determined to uncover the truth.
Megan talks about the conflict that can grow in small communities, as well as how she gained experience to write a book with such a closeted setting. Carol nails Megan’s favorite lines in the book, which give nothing away. As Rebekkah Ross has narrated all of Megan’s adult thrillers, they discuss what she brings to the storytelling. They also chat about the upcoming adaptation for THE LAST HOUSE GUEST, which is being developed as a series by Dakota and Elle Fanning’s Lewellen Pictures and MRC Television. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
Carol's second interview is with Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, whose New York Times bestseller THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN is this month’s “Good Morning America” Book Club pick and a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. The novel tells the story of J.P. Morgan's personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, who purchased and catalogued his impressive collection of rare and high-quality books and artwork. What people did not know is that Belle was a Black woman who passed as white. Her secret was kept hidden, though her father had been the first Black man to graduate from Harvard University. Her complex backstory is as interesting as the collection itself.
Marie and Victoria discuss how and why they came together to work on THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, explain certain aspects of their research that made its way into the story they were trying to tell, and share what they are up to next, both solo and as collaborators. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
We also are spotlighting New York Times bestselling author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore's new novel, FIERCE LITTLE THING, a mesmerizing story of friendship and its reckonings. Taylor Jenkins Reid calls the book "moody, gripping, and profoundly haunting" and says, "Beverly-Whittemore renders a wild, treacherous world and invites us to stand perilously close to the edge."
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: FIERCE LITTLE THING
by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
FIERCE LITTLE THING by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (Psychological Thriller)
New York Times bestselling author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s FIERCE LITTLE THING has "all the ingredients for the perfect summer read...a SECRET HISTORY-esque tale of suspense about a group of childhood friends and the secret that haunts their adulthood." (The Millions)
Saskia was a damaged, lonely teenager when she arrived at the lakeside commune called Home. She was entranced by the tang of sourdough starter; the midnight call of the loons; the triumph of foraging wild mushrooms from the forest floor. But most of all she was taken with Abraham, Home's charismatic leader --- the North Star to Saskia --- and the four other teens who lived there, her best and only friends.
Two decades later, Saskia is shuttered in her Connecticut estate, estranged from the others. Her carefully walled life is torn open by threatening letters. Unless she and her former friends return to the land in rural Maine, the terrible thing they did as teenagers will be revealed.
Click here to read more about the book.
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, July 28th at 3pm ET: Poisoned Pen Bookstore: B. A. Paris will discuss her new novel, THE THERAPIST, with special guest host Gilly Macmillan.
Wednesday, July 28th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe --- will talk to Christina Baker Kline, whose most recent novel, THE EXILES, is now in paperback.
Wednesday, July 28th at 8pm ET: Mystery to Me: Beloved author Jennifer Chiaverini will return to Mystery to Me to talk about her latest work of historical fiction, THE WOMEN'S MARCH.
Thursday, July 29th at 12pm ET: Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites: Members of the Simon & Schuster team will host a Facebook Live Book Club chat about ANXIOUS PEOPLE by Fredrik Backman, which is July's pick for S&S's Book Club Favorites.
Thursday, July 29th at 7pm ET: Cuyahoga County Public Library: Join Cuyahoga County Public Library on Zoom for a conversation with Jennifer Chiaverini about her new novel, THE WOMEN'S MARCH.
Monday, August 2nd at 7pm ET: Books Are Magic: Megan Abbott will be in conversation with Rumaan Alam about her mesmerizing new novel, THE TURNOUT.
Monday, August 2nd at 8pm ET: Murder By The Book: Chandler Baker will talk to Sara DiVello (a yoga teacher by day and mystery writer by night) about her new work of fiction, THE HUSBANDS.
Tuesday, August 3rd at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Barnes & Noble will host a Facebook Live discussion for their July book club pick, THE PAPER PALACE, featuring Miranda Cowley Heller in conversation with Mackenzie Newcomb.
Tuesday, August 3rd at 7pm ET: BookPeople: Join BookPeople for a virtual celebration of Chandler Baker's THE HUSBANDS. Chandler will be in conversation with Angie Kim, whose debut novel is MIRACLE CREEK.
Tuesday, August 3rd at 7pm ET: Books & Books: Charlotte McConaghy will be in conversation with Laurie Frankel about her new novel, ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES.
Tuesday, August 3rd at 8pm ET: Murder By The Book: Megan Abbott will be in conversation with Gillian Flynn about her latest novel, THE TURNOUT.
Tuesday, August 3rd at 9pm ET: Vroman's Bookstore: Edgar Award winner Naomi Hirahara will discuss her eye-opening and poignant new mystery, CLARK AND DIVISION, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister's death.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Special Contest for LIGHTNING STRIKE
by William Kent Krueger
Enter to Win an Advance Copy and a HUGE Grand Prize
From William Kent Krueger, the author of the instant New York Times bestseller THIS TENDER LAND, comes LIGHTNING STRIKE, a powerful prequel to his acclaimed Cork O’Connor series. This highly anticipated novel is about fathers and sons, long-simmering conflicts in a small Minnesota town, and the events that echo through youth and shape our lives forever. We are giving 25 readers the opportunity to win an advance copy of the book, which releases on August 24th. In addition, one Grand Prize winner will receive signed copies of all 18 Cork O’Connor mysteries! To enter, please fill out this form by Friday, August 6th at noon ET.
LIGHTNING STRIKE by William Kent Krueger (Historical Mystery)
Aurora is a small town nestled in the ancient forest alongside the shores of Minnesota’s Iron Lake. In the summer of 1963, it is the whole world to 12-year-old Cork O’Connor, its rhythms as familiar as his own heartbeat. But when Cork stumbles upon the body of a man he revered hanging from a tree in an abandoned logging camp, it is the first in a series of events that will cause him to question everything he took for granted about his hometown, his family and himself.
Cork’s father, Liam O’Connor, is Aurora’s sheriff and it is his job to confirm that the man’s death was the result of suicide, as all the evidence suggests. In the shadow of his father’s official investigation, Cork begins to look for answers on his own. Together, father and son face the ultimate test of choosing between what their heads tell them is true and what their hearts know is right.
In this masterful story of a young man and a town on the cusp of change, beloved novelist William Kent Krueger shows that some mysteries can be solved even as others surpass our understanding.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read William Kent Krueger's bio.
- Click here to visit William Kent Krueger's website.
- Connect with William Kent Krueger on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of July 26th in Hardcover
July 27th
A COMEDY OF TERRORS: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis (Historical Mystery)
Flavia Albia, daughter and successor of private informer Marcus Didius Falco, is twiddling her thumbs with no clients during the December festival of Saturnalia. But that doesn't mean all is quiet. Her husband Tiberius and the Fourth Cohort are battling organized crime interests that are going to war over the festival nuts. A series of accidental poisonings, then bloody murders of rival nut-sellers, and finally a gruesome warning to Tiberius from the hidden criminal powers to back off. Albia has had just about enough and combines forces with Tiberius to uncover the hidden criminal gangs trying to worm their way into the establishment at a banquet of the emperor Domitian.
Minotaur Books | 9781250241542
FIERCE LITTLE THING by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (Psychological Thriller)
Saskia was a damaged, lonely teenager when she arrived at the lakeside commune called Home. She was immediately taken with Abraham, Home's charismatic leader --- the North Star to Saskia --- and the four other teens who lived there, her best and only friends. Two decades later, Saskia is shuttered in her Connecticut estate, estranged from the others. Her carefully walled life is torn open by threatening letters. Unless she and her former friends return to the land in rural Maine, the terrible thing they did as teenagers --- their last-ditch attempt to save Home --- will be revealed. From vastly different lives, the five return to confront their blackmailer and reckon with the horror that split them apart. How far will they go to bury their secret forever?
Flatiron Books | 9781250779427
GODSPEED by Nickolas Butler (Literary Thriller)
Cole, Bart and Teddy of True Triangle Construction are hired to finish a project for a mysteriously wealthy homeowner. Nestled in the mountains outside of Jackson, Wyoming, the house is a masterpiece. Once finished, it promises to be the architectural prize of Jackson and could put True Triangle on the map. But despite the project's lure, the owner is intent on having it built in a matter of months, an impossible task made irresistible by the exorbitant bonus that awaits them if they succeed. Up against the fateful deadline, and the looming threat of a harsh Wyoming winter, Cole, Bart and Teddy are willing to do anything to get the money. And what becomes an obsession for all three quickly builds to tragic consequences for some.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593190418
A GOOD DAY FOR CHARDONNAY by Darynda Jones (Mystery)
Full-time sheriff Sunshine Vicram has to deal with a bar fight gone bad, a teenage daughter hunting a serial killer, and the still unresolved mystery of her own abduction years prior. All evidence points to a local distiller, a dangerous bad boy named Levi Ravinder, but Sunny knows he’s not the villain of her story. Still, perhaps beneath it all, he possesses the keys to her disappearance. At the very least, beneath it all, he possesses a serious set of abs. Between policing a town her hunky chief deputy calls four cents short of a nickel, that pesky crush she has on Levi that seems to grow exponentially every day, and an irascible raccoon that just doesn’t know when to quit, Sunny’s life is about to rocket to a whole new level of crazy.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250233110
HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY IN THE DARK by Derek B. Miller (Historical Fiction)
Twelve-year old Sheldon Horowitz is still recovering from the tragic loss of his mother only a year ago when a suspicious traffic accident steals the life of his father near their home in rural Massachusetts. It is 1938, and Sheldon, who was in the truck, emerges from the crash an orphan hell-bent on revenge. He takes that fire with him to Hartford, where he embarks on a new life under the roof of his buttoned-up Uncle Nate. Sheldon, along with his teenage cousins and his best friend, will contend with tradition and orthodoxy, appeasement and patriotism, mafia hitmen and angry accordion players, all while World War II takes center stage alongside a hurricane in New England and comedians in the Catskills.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780358269601
ISLAND OF THIEVES by Glen Erik Hamilton (Thriller)
Van Shaw is hired to evaluate the safeguards for the art collection of eccentric business magnate Sebastien Rohner. Then Rohner reveals to Van the real reason he’s been recruited: to prevent another professional burglar from stealing the art. While questioning the bizarre nature of the job, Van accepts the lucrative offer and arrives at the island estate during an international summit that Rohner is hosting. Shortly after beginning his surveillance of Rohner’s highly secure gallery wing, he stumbles across the murdered body of one of the honored guests. Van knows that the homicide detectives on the case think he’s the prime suspect. To clear his name, he will have to uncover the hidden motive of corporate espionage at a global level, even with a band of killers on his tail.
William Morrow | 9780062978547
JUST ONE LOOK by Lindsay Cameron (Psychological Thriller)
After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie Woodson takes a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness. But when she orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she’s been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn’t simply admire Annabelle --- she wants to take her place. And she’s armed with the tools to make that happen.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159057
NEW TEETH: Stories by Simon Rich (Fiction/Short Stories)
Called a “comedic Godsend” by Conan O’Brien and “the Stephen King of comedy writing” by John Mulaney, Simon Rich is back with NEW TEETH, his funniest and most personal collection yet. Two murderous pirates find a child stowaway on board and attempt to balance pillaging with co-parenting. A woman raised by wolves prepares for her parents’ annual Thanksgiving visit. An aging mutant superhero is forced to learn humility when the mayor kicks him upstairs to a desk job. And in the hard-boiled caper “The Big Nap,” a weary two-year-old detective struggles to make sense of “a world gone mad.”
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316536684
NOT A HAPPY FAMILY by Shari Lapena (Psychological Thriller)
Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there, and Fred and Sheila Merton certainly are rich. But even all their money can't protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered after a fraught Easter dinner with their three adult kids. They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of the siblings is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you'd know. Wouldn't you?
Pamela Dorman Books | 9781984880550
A PLACE LIKE HOME: Stories by Rosamunde Pilcher (Fiction/Short Stories)
A PLACE LIKE HOME is a collection of short stories by internationally bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, never before published in book form. It contains 15 stories, which range from “The Holiday,” in which a wife surprises her husband of 25 years with a holiday full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children; “The Eye of Love,” which takes the reader to a village by the sea where old flames meet again; and “A Place Like Home,” where a lonely young woman goes to recuperate in the Scottish countryside after a brief illness. The fruit orchards and fresh sea air offer much-needed respite --- but not as much as the handsome, mysterious farmer she meets.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250274953
ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE TREACHERY by Brian Freeman (Thriller/Adventure)
Three years ago, Jason Bourne embarked on a mission in Estonia with his partner and lover, a fiery Treadstone agent code-named Nova. Their job was to rescue a Russian double agent who’d been smuggled out of St. Petersburg in the midst of an FSB manhunt. They failed. The Russian died at the hands of a shadowy assassin known only by the nickname Lennon. Now everything has changed for Bourne. Nova is gone, killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas. Bourne is a lone operative, working in the shadows for Treadstone, when he’s called in for a new mission in London --- to prevent another assassination masterminded by Lennon. But nothing about this mission is what it seems.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525542650
ROVERS by Richard Lange (Supernatural Thriller)
Summer, 1976. Jesse and his brother, Edgar, are on the road in search of victims. They’re rovers, nearly indestructible nocturnal beings who must consume human blood in order to survive. For 70 years they’ve lurked on the fringes of society, roaming from town to town, dingy motel to dingy motel, stalking the transients, addicts and prostitutes they feed on. This hard-boiled supernatural hell ride kicks off when the brothers encounter a young woman who disrupts their grim routine, forcing Jesse to confront his past and plunging his present into deadly chaos as he finds himself scrambling to save her life. The story plays out through the eyes of the brothers, a grieving father searching for his son’s murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers.
Mulholland Books | 9780316541961
A SONG EVERLASTING by Ha Jin (Fiction)
At the end of a U.S. tour with his state-supported choir, popular singer Yao Tian takes a private gig in New York to pick up some extra cash for his daughter’s tuition fund, but the consequences of his choice spiral out of control. On his return to China, Tian is informed that the sponsors of the event were supporters of Taiwan’s secession, and that he must deliver a formal self-criticism. When he is asked to forfeit his passport to his employer, Tian impulsively decides instead to return to New York to protest the government’s threat to his artistic integrity. With the help of his old friend Yabin, Tian’s career begins to flourish in the United States. But he is soon placed on a Chinese government blacklist and thwarted by the state at every turn.
Pantheon | 9781524748791
SWAN DIVE: The Making of a Rogue Ballerina by Georgina Pazcoguin (Memoir)
In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, the New York City Ballet’s first Asian American female soloist, Georgina Pazcoguin, lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of humor about the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest mentality at NYCB. Some swan dives are literal: even in the ballet, there are plenty of face-plants, backstage fights, late-night parties and raucous company bonding sessions.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250244307
UNTHINKABLE by Brad Parks (Thriller)
Nate Lovejoy is a self-proclaimed nobody, a stay-at-home dad who doesn’t believe he’s important to anyone but his wife and their two daughters. So it’s a shock when members of a powerful secret society kidnap and spirit Nate away to a mansion at the behest of their leader, Vanslow DeGange, who claims to know the future. He’s foreseen that a billion people could die --- unless Nate acts. It seems improbable, especially given what DeGange says will set this mass casualty incident in motion: a lawsuit against the biggest power company in Virginia, being brought by Nate’s wife, Jenny. Nate quickly smells a scam being perpetrated by the power company. But at every turn, it becomes apparent there’s more to DeGange’s gift than Nate wants to acknowledge.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542024952
WE WANT WHAT WE WANT: Stories by Alix Ohlin (Fiction/Short Stories)
WE WANT WHAT WE WANT is a collection of surprising, darkly funny stories of people testing the boundaries of their lives. In "Money, Geography, Youth," Vanessa finds out that her father is engaged to her childhood best friend. She responds by turning to a different old friendship for her own, unique diversion. In "The Brooks Brothers Guru," Amanda rescues her gawky cousin from a cult, only to discover clean-cut, well-dressed men living in a beautiful home, leading her to wonder what freedoms she might willingly trade away for a life of such elegant comfort. And in "The Universal Particular," Tamar welcomes her husband's young stepcousin from Somalia into their home, only to find their cool suburban life knocked askew in ways they cannot quite understand.
Knopf | 9780525654636
THE WOMEN'S MARCH: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession by Jennifer Chiaverini (Historical Fiction)
Twenty-five-year-old Alice Paul returns to her native New Jersey after several years on the front lines of the suffrage movement in Great Britain. Nine states have already granted women voting rights, but only a constitutional amendment will secure the vote for all. To inspire support for the campaign, Alice organizes a magnificent procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, the day before the inauguration of President-elect Woodrow Wilson, a firm anti-suffragist. On March 3, 1913, the glorious march commences, but negligent police allow vast crowds of belligerent men to block the parade route --- jeering, shouting threats, assaulting the marchers --- endangering not only the success of the demonstration but the women’s very lives.
William Morrow | 9780062976000
July 30th
GUMSHOE GONE by Rob Leininger (Mystery)
Kidnapped by a gorgeous girl in a casino bar in Reno, Mortimer Angel disappears for several days. When he finally makes contact with his friends and family, he's on a new case, one that takes him on more than one unexpected journey, then becomes a new case with more unexpected journeys. This time, Mort travels more roads than he has ever traveled before, and ends up in a place he never could have predicted.
Independently published | 9798545609048
On Sale the Week of July 26th in Paperback
July 27th
AGENT SONYA: The Spy Next Door by Ben Macintyre (History)
In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her. They didn’t know that she was a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer. They didn’t know that her husband was also a spy, or that she was running powerful agents across Europe. Behind the facade of her picturesque life, Burton was a dedicated Communist, a Soviet colonel and a veteran agent, gathering the scientific secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the bomb.
Crown | 9780593136324
ALL THE LITTLE HOPES by Leah Weiss (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Deep in the tobacco land of North Carolina, nothing has been the same since the boys shipped off to war and worry took their place. Thirteen-year-old Lucy Brown is precocious and itching for adventure. Then Allie Bert Tucker wanders into town, an outcast with a puzzling past, and Lucy figures the two of them can solve any curious crime they find --- just like her hero, Nancy Drew. Their chance comes when a man goes missing, a woman stops speaking, and an eccentric gives the girls a mystery to solve that takes them beyond the ordinary. Their quiet town, seasoned with honeybees and sweet tea, becomes home to a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp. More men go missing. And together, the girls embark on a journey to discover if we ever really know who the enemy is.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728232744
BONE CHASE by Weston Ochse (Supernatural Thriller/Dark Fantasy)
There were giants on the earth in those days --- at least that’s what the Bible says. But where are they? Did they ever really exist at all? When out-of-work math teacher Ethan McCloud is sent a mysterious box, he and his ex-girlfriend begin to unravel a mystery 10,000 years in the making --- and he is the last hope to discovering the world’s greatest conspiracy. Chased by both the Six-Fingered Man and the Council of David, Ethan must survive the chase --- and find the truth.
Gallery/Saga Press | 9781534450103
THE BOOK OF HIDDEN WONDERS by Polly Crosby (Fiction)
Romilly Kemp and her eccentric painter father have happy but sheltered lives in a ramshackle mansion in the English countryside. When her father finds fame with a series of children’s books starring Romilly as the main character, everything changes: exotic foods appear on the table, her father appears on TV, and strangers appear at their door, convinced the books will lead them to a precious prize. But as time passes, Romilly’s father becomes increasingly suspicious of the outside world until he begins to disappear within himself. She returns to his illustrations, looking for a way to connect with her ailing father, and finds a series of clues he has left just for her. This treasure hunt leads her to a shocking secret that is crucial to understanding her family.
Park Row | 9780778388012
THE BOY IN THE FIELD by Margot Livesey (Fiction)
One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed. Matthew becomes obsessed with tracking down the assailant, secretly searching the local town with the victim’s brother. Zoe wanders the streets of Oxford, looking at men, and one of them, a visiting American graduate student, looks back. Duncan, who has seldom thought about being adopted, suddenly decides he wants to find his birth mother. Overshadowing all three is the awareness that something is amiss in their parents’ marriage.
Harper Perennial | 9780062946409
THE BREAKER: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller)
When Peter Ash --- a man wanted by two governments --- spots a suspicious armed man walking into a crowded market, he knows he can't stand by and do nothing. The young gunman appeared to have one target and one mission, but when he escapes, it seems there is more to the encounter than meets the eye. Peter's hunch is proven correct when a powerful associate from his past appears with an interest in the crime, and an irresistible offer: if he and his girlfriend June solve this mystery, Peter's record will be scrubbed clean. While Peter and his friend Lewis trace the gunman, reporter June digs into the victim of the incident, a man whose face rings a bell in her memory.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525535492
THE CITY WE BECAME by N. K. Jemisin (Urban Fantasy)
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history and feel its power. In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her. In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels. And they're not the only ones.
Orbit | 9780316509886
THE DREAMCATCHER CODES by Barbara Newman (Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Powered by the elements earth, air, fire and water, and secret messages from mystical dreamcatchers, four girls join forces on a quest to recover the stolen piece of the coveted Crystal Horseshoe. Snatched by a giant raven during a raging storm, this sacred talisman holds the Codes of Nature and is the very key to its survival. Maia from the North has been called by Sophia, Guardian of Mother Earth, to find and lead the Crystal Warriors on this daring path into the unknown. Falcon, Ava and Yue complete the circle of four, and together they bravely face what lies ahead. But time is running out, and their search is threatened by shapeshifters in the sky who want the crystal destroyed. Will this fierce cowgirl sisterhood, with mythical horses by their side, overcome the destructive forces of greed and heal Mother Earth?
Green Writers Press | 9781733653473
FAITHLESS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
The scene in the West Village studio appears to be a classic crime of passion: two wine glasses by the bed, music playing, and a body with a bashed-in head. But when Eve Dallas tracks down the wealthy Upper East Side woman who called 911, the details don’t add up. Gwen Huffman is wealthy, elegant and tearful over the trauma of finding the body. But why did it take an hour to report it? And why is she lying about little things? As Eve and her team look into it, they find that the lies go well beyond murder --- and soon they’re getting the FBI involved in a case that involves a sinister, fanatical group and a stunning criminal conspiracy.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250771827
A HOUSE IS A BODY: Stories by Shruti Swamy (Fiction/Short Stories)
Dreams collide with reality, modernity with antiquity, and myth with identity in the 12 arresting stories of A HOUSE IS A BODY. In “Earthly Pleasures,” a young painter living alone in San Francisco begins a secret romance with one of India’s biggest celebrities, and desire and ego are laid bare. In “A Simple Composition,” a husband’s professional crisis leads to his wife’s discovery of a dark, ecstatic joy. And in the title story, an exhausted mother watches, hypnotized by fear, as a California wildfire approaches her home. Set in the United States and India, they reveal small but intense moments of beauty, pain and power that contain the world.
Algonquin Books | 9781643751450
I HOLD A WOLF BY THE EARS: Stories by Laura van den Berg (Fiction/Short Stories)
Both timeless and urgent, the 11 stories in Laura van den Berg’s first story collection since her prize-winning book THE ISLE OF YOUTH confront misogyny, violence and the impossible economics of America. In “Lizards,” a man mutes his wife’s anxieties by giving her a LaCroix-like seltzer laced with sedatives. In the title story, a woman poses as her more successful sister during a botched Italian holiday, a choice that brings about strange and destructive consequences, while in “Karolina,” a woman discovers her prickly ex-sister-in-law in the aftermath of an earthquake and is forced to face the truth about her violent brother.
Picador | 9781250798664
THE KINGDOM written by Jo Nesbø, translated by Robert Ferguson (Mystery/Thriller)
Roy and Carl, brothers from a small mountain town, have spent their whole lives hiding from the darkness in their pasts --- Roy by staying put and staying quiet, and Carl by running far away. Roy believed his little brother was gone for good. But Carl has big plans for his hometown. And when he returns with a mysterious new wife and a business opportunity that seems too good to be true, simmering tensions begin to surface and unexplained deaths in the town’s past come under new scrutiny. Soon powerful players set their sights on taking the brothers down by exposing their role in the town’s sordid history. But Roy and Carl are survivors, and no strangers to violence. As the town’s long-buried past begins to surface, Roy will be forced to choose between his own flesh and blood and a future he had never dared to believe possible.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard | 9780525564867
LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent (Psychological Thriller)
William, Brian and Luke: three boys, born a year apart, trained from birth by their wily mother to compete for her attention. They play games, as brothers do…yet even after the Drumms escape into the world beyond their windows, those games --- those little cruelties --- grow more sinister, more merciless and more dangerous. And with their lives entwined like the strands of a noose, only two of the brothers will survive.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781501189692
THE MAN BAN by Nicola Marsh (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Harper Ryland has been on a self-imposed man ban for the last 12 months after a particularly horrible breakup. Instead, she's focusing on her career as an up-and-coming food stylist. Harper's latest gig is her best friend's wedding. When the Best Man, Manny Gomes, belittles her hard work, she decides to lead him on the entire wedding and then humiliate him in sweet revenge. When the Anglo-Indian doctor shows up in New Zealand a week later, while Harper is on her first international job, it's the last thing she needs. But when suave Manny steps in to help after an unfortunate disaster, his chivalry gets under her skin a little, and Harper discovers that lifting her ban while overseas is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Berkley | 9780593198643
THE MARSH BIRD by Anne Brooker James (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Woven with murder, mystery and magic, THE MARSH BIRD is a compelling story of a young, orphaned, multiracial girl from Louisiana and a white teen abandoned as an infant and raised by a local white fisherman, both embraced by the residents of a rural, Gullah Geechee sea island community. Set among descendants of those once enslaved in the lush marshes of the Lowcountry coast of South Carolina and Georgia, this is an unforgettable love story, and a tale of survival that proves it is the bonds of love and care that create a family.
Koehler Books | 9781646633654
THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED by Kevin O'Brien (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Seattle TV reporter Anna Malone awakens to her phone ringing. She rarely drinks, and this hangover is brutal. Why can't she shake the feeling that something terrible happened last night? And why can't she recall any of it? What Anna does remember: an awkward restaurant meal with her married lover, Russ Knoll, and his unsuspecting wife, Courtney. Russ' phone call reveals that Courtney is missing, and as days go by with no trace, he comes under police scrutiny. Anna already suspected that Courtney might have a darker side. Is she truly missing? Perhaps the sudden disturbances in Anna's life aren't accidental after all. But no scenario that she imagines can compare to the twisted game unfolding around her.
Pinnacle | 9780786045099
RADAR GIRLS by Sara Ackerman (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In the dizzying aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Daisy Wilder enlists in a top-secret program, replacing male soldiers in a war zone for the first time. Under fear of imminent invasion, the WARDs guide pilots into blacked-out airstrips and track unidentified planes across Pacific skies. But not everyone thinks the women are up to the job, and the new recruits must rise above their differences and work side by side despite the resistance and heartache they meet along the way. With America’s future on the line, Daisy is determined to prove herself worthy. And with the man she’s falling for out on the front lines, she cannot fail. From radar towers on remote mountaintops to flooded bomb shelters, she’ll need her new team when the stakes are highest.
Mira | 9780778332046
ROYAL by Danielle Steel (Historical Romance)
As the war rages on in the summer of 1943, causing massive destruction and widespread fear, the King and Queen choose to quietly send their youngest daughter, Princess Charlotte, to live with a trusted noble family in the country. Despite her fiery, headstrong nature, the princess's fragile health poses far too great a risk for her to remain in war-torn London. Third in line for the throne, 17-year-old Charlotte reluctantly uses an alias upon her arrival in Yorkshire, her two guardians the only keepers of her true identity. In time, she settles comfortably into a life out of the spotlight, befriending a young evacuee and training with her cherished horse. But no one predicts that in the coming months, she will fall deeply in love with her protectors' son.
Dell | 9780399179679
SAFE IN MY ARMS by Sara Shepard (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Andrea, Lauren and Ronnie all see themselves as good, loving moms who are trying their best, but they each arrive at the Silver Swans preschool Welcome Breakfast with something to hide. They already feel like impostors among the school's community of polished parents. But then notes appear in their children’s backpacks after the first day at school. Notes that indicate that someone knows their deepest, darkest secrets and needs them gone. Does someone not want them in the community? Or is it something more menacing --- does someone know everything? When the principal of the school is the victim of an almost-fatal attack, it quickly becomes clear that the Silver Swans community is not as flawless as the brochures and website would have you believe.
Dutton | 9781524746780
THEN SHE VANISHED by T. Jefferson Parker (Thriller)
Private Investigator Roland Ford has taken a job for a fellow Marine and a rising politician, Dalton Strait. His wife, Natalie, has gone missing, leaving behind a cryptic plea for help. Strait has made many enemies during his time in politics, all of whom could be looking for revenge. But as Ford digs into the details of a troubled marriage, Natalie's disappearance becomes more and more complicated. Meanwhile, the bombings in the city intensify, with a mysterious group known only as the Chaos Committee claiming responsibility. Ford soon learns that the seemingly random attacks may be connected to the case he's on --- and suddenly, his hunt for a missing woman might decide the fate of an entire city.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525537687
THREE WORDS FOR GOODBYE by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
When estranged sisters Clara and Madeleine Sommers learn that their grandmother is dying, they agree to fulfill her last wish: to travel across Europe together. They are to deliver three letters, in which Violet will say goodbye to those she hasn’t seen since traveling to Europe 40 years earlier. Clara sees the trip as an inconvenient detour before her wedding to millionaire Charles Hancock, but it’s also a chance to embrace her love of art. Budding journalist Madeleine relishes the opportunity to develop her ambitions to report on the growing threat of Hitler’s Nazi party and Mussolini’s control in Italy. A shocking truth about their family brings the sisters closer together, but as they reach Vienna to deliver the final letter, old grudges threaten their reconciliation again.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062965240
UNIVERSE OF TWO by Stephen P. Kiernan (Historical Fiction)
Graduating from Harvard at the height of World War II, brilliant mathematician Charlie Fish is assigned to the Manhattan Project, where he works on designing and building the detonator of the atomic bomb. But he suffers a crisis of conscience, which his wife, Brenda --- unaware of the true nature of Charlie’s top-secret task --- mistakes as self-doubt. Once the bombs strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the feelings of culpability devastate him and Brenda. At the war’s end, Charlie receives a scholarship to pursue a PhD in physics at Stanford, but the past proves inescapable. Haunted by guilt, Charlie and Brenda decide to dedicate the rest of their lives to making amends for the evil he helped to birth into the world.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062878458
THE VACATION by T. M. Logan (Psychological Thriller)
Kate and her three best friends are spending a week with their families in a luxurious villa in the south of France. But soon after arriving, she discovers an incriminating text on her husband’s cell phone. A text revealing that he’s having an affair. And that the other woman is one of her best friends. But which one? Trapped in paradise with no one to trust, Kate is determined to find out who has put her marriage --- and a lifelong friendship --- in jeopardy. But as she closes in on the truth, she realizes that the stakes are higher than she ever imagined. Everyone on the trip has secrets…and someone may be prepared to kill to keep theirs hidden.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250797186
WE ARE ALL THE SAME IN THE DARK by Julia Heaberlin (Psychological Thriller)
It’s been a decade since Trumanell Branson disappeared, leaving only a bloody handprint behind. Her brother, Wyatt, was cleared of wrongdoing by the police, but he was tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion and is in a new documentary about the crime. When Wyatt finds a lost girl dumped in a field of dandelions, making silent wishes, he believes she is a sign. The town’s youngest cop, Odette Tucker, believes she is a catalyst that will ignite a seething town still waiting for its own missing girl to come home. But Odette can’t look away. She shares a wound that won’t close with the mute, one-eyed mystery girl. And she is haunted by her own history with the missing Tru.
Ballantine Books | 9780525621690
WHITE IVY by Susie Yang (Fiction)
Raised outside of Boston, Ivy Lin’s immigrant grandmother relies on Ivy’s mild appearance for cover as she teaches her granddaughter how to pilfer items from yard sales and second-hand shops. Thieving allows Ivy to accumulate the trappings of a suburban teen --- and, most importantly, to attract the attention of Gideon Speyer, the golden boy of a wealthy political family. But when Ivy’s mother discovers her trespasses, Ivy is sent to China, and her dream instantly evaporates. Years later, Ivy is back in Boston and bumps into Sylvia Speyer, Gideon’s sister. Just as she is about to have everything she’s ever wanted, a ghost from Ivy’s past resurfaces, threatening the nearly perfect life she’s worked so hard to build.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982100605
On Sale the Week of August 2nd in Hardcover
August 3rd
AFTERPARTIES: Stories by Anthony Veasna So (Fiction/Short Stories)
AFTERPARTIES offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. A high school badminton coach and failing grocery store owner tries to relive his glory days by beating a rising star teenage player. Two drunken brothers attend a wedding afterparty and hatch a plan to expose their shady uncle’s snubbing of the bride and groom. A queer love affair sparks between an older tech entrepreneur trying to launch a “safe space” app and a disillusioned young teacher obsessed with MOBY-DICK. And in the sweeping final story, a nine-year-old child learns that his mother survived a racist school shooter.
Ecco | 9780063049901
AGATHA CHRISTIE: First Lady of Crime edited by H. R. F. Keating (Essays)
Agatha Christie was not only the most successful author of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews --- declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure --- and a mystery, too, in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success. Distinguished crime novelist (and acclaimed critic) H. R. F. Keating brings together a dozen noted writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on the ever-intriguing Dame Agatha. Some essays analyze Christie’s art itself; others explain the reasons for her success --- not just the books, but also in film and theater.
Pegasus Books | 9781643137360
ALL'S WELL by Mona Awad (Fiction)
The accident that ended Miranda Fitch’s burgeoning acting career left her with excruciating, chronic back pain, a failed marriage, and a deepening dependence on painkillers. And now she’s on the verge of losing her job as a college theater director. Determined to put on Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well,” she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging “Macbeth” instead. Miranda sees her chance at redemption slip through her fingers. That’s when she meets three strange benefactors who have an eerie knowledge of Miranda’s past and a tantalizing promise for her future: one where the show goes on, her rebellious students get what’s coming to them, and the invisible, doubted pain that’s kept her from the spotlight is made known.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982169664
AMERICANALAND: Where Country & Western Met Rock 'n' Roll by John Milward and Margie Greve (Music/History)
With a claim on artists from Jimmie Rodgers to Jason Isbell, Americana can be hard to define, but you know it when you hear it. John Milward’s AMERICANALAND is filled with the enduring performers and vivid stories that are at the heart of Americana. At base a hybrid of rock and country, Americana is also infused with folk, blues, R&B, bluegrass and other types of roots music. Performers like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Gram Parsons used these ingredients to create influential music that took well-established genres down exciting new roads. The name Americana was coined in the 1990s to describe similarly inclined artists like Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Wilco. Today, Brandi Carlile and I’m With Her are among the musicians carrying the genre into the 21st century.
University of Illinois Press | 9780252043918
BAD SCENE: A Colleen Hayes Mystery by Max Tomlinson (Mystery)
When PI and ex-con Colleen Hayes learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor --- until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp. To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher --- and the date is fast approaching. Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she --- along with hundreds of others --- lose their lives.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608093458
BILLY SUMMERS by Stephen King (Thriller)
Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything.
Scribner | 9781982173616
BLIND MAN'S BLUFF: A Memoir by James Tate Hill (Memoir)
At age 16, James Tate Hill was diagnosed with Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, a condition that left him legally blind. When friends stopped calling and a disability counselor advised him to aim for C’s in his classes, he tried to escape the stigma by pretending he could still see. In BLIND MAN’S BLUFF, Hill discloses the tricks he employed to pass for sighted. For 15 years, Hill hid his blindness from friends, colleagues and lovers, even convincing himself that if he stared long enough, his blurry peripheral vision would bring the world into focus. At 30, faced with a stalled writing career, a crumbling marriage, and a growing fear of leaving his apartment, he began to wonder if there was a better way.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393867176
BLIND TIGER by Sandra Brown (Historical Thriller)
On the day that Thatcher Hutton, a war-weary soldier, arrives in Foley, Texas, a local woman goes missing. Thatcher, the only stranger in town, is suspected of her abduction, and worse. Standing between him and exoneration are a corrupt mayor, a crooked sheriff, a notorious cathouse madam, a sly bootlegger, feuding moonshiners…and a young widow whose soft features conceal an iron will. What was supposed to be a fresh start for Laurel Plummer turns to tragedy. Left destitute but determined to dictate her own future, Laurel plunges into the lucrative regional industry, much to the dislike of the good ol’ boys, who have ruled supreme. Her success quickly makes her a target for cutthroat competitors, whose only code of law is reprisal.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538751961
BREATHE by Joyce Carol Oates (Fiction)
A married couple from Cambridge, MA takes residency at a distinguished academic institute. When the husband is stricken with a mysterious illness, misdiagnosed at first, their lives are uprooted and husband and wife each embarks upon a nightmare journey. At 37, Michaela faces the terrifying prospect of widowhood --- and the loss of Gerard, whose identity has greatly shaped her own. She cares desperately for him in his final days as she comes to realize that her love for her husband, however fierce and selfless, is not enough to save him and that his death is beyond her comprehension. A love that refuses to be surrendered at death --- is this the blessing of a unique married love, or a curse that must be exorcized?
Ecco | 9780063085473
BULLET TRAIN by Kotaro Isaka (Thriller)
Nanao, nicknamed Lady Bird --- the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world” --- boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to him, the deadly duo Tangerine and Lemon are also after the very same suitcase --- and they are not the only dangerous passengers onboard. Satoshi, “the Prince,” is also in the mix and has history with some of the others. Risk fuels him as does a good philosophical debate...like, is killing really wrong? Chasing the Prince is another assassin with a score to settle for the time the Prince casually pushed a young boy off of a roof, leaving him comatose. When the five assassins discover they are all on the same train, they realize their missions are not as unrelated as they first appear.
Harry N. Abrams | 9781419756337
CLARK AND DIVISION by Naomi Hirahara (Historical Mystery)
Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled 2,000 miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train, and officials are ruling it a suicide. Aki’s instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.
Soho Crime | 9781641292498
CLASS ACT: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
After a rocky jaunt in Maine, Stone Barrington is settling back in New York City when an old client reaches out for help with a delicate matter. A feud they thought was put to rest long ago has reemerged with a vengeance, and reputations --- and money --- are now on the line. As Stone sets out to unravel a tangled web of crime and secrets, his mission becomes even more complicated when he makes an irresistible new acquaintance. In both the underbelly and upper echelons of New York, everyone has something to hide --- and if Stone has learned anything, it’s that history has a way of repeating itself.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593331668
DAMNATION SPRING by Ash Davidson (Fiction)
For generations, Rich Gundersen’s family has chopped a livelihood out of the redwood forest along California’s rugged coast. Now Rich and his wife, Colleen, are raising their own young son near Damnation Grove, a swath of ancient redwoods on which Rich’s employer, Sanderson Timber Co., plans to make a killing. In 1977, with most of the forest cleared or protected, a grove like Damnation --- and beyond it 24-7 Ridge --- is a logger’s dream. So when the opportunity arises to buy 24-7 Ridge, Rich grabs it. Colleen has lost several pregnancies. And she isn’t alone. As a midwife, Colleen has seen it with her own eyes. For decades, the herbicides the logging company uses were considered harmless. But what if these miscarriages aren’t isolated strokes of bad luck?
Scribner | 9781982144401
DARK ROADS by Chevy Stevens (Thriller)
For decades, young women traveling the Cold Creek Highway have gone missing. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice. One day, teenager Hailey McBride vanishes into the mountainous terrain, hoping everyone will believe she’s left town. Rumors spread that she was taken by the highway killer. One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek, where her sister Amber lived --- and was murdered. Estranged from her parents and seeking closure, Beth takes a waitressing job at the local diner, desperate to understand what happened to her and why. But Beth’s search for answers puts a target on her back --- and threatens to reveal the truth behind Hailey’s disappearance.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250133571
DOWN RANGE: A Garrett Kohl Novel by Taylor Moore (Thriller/Adventure)
As a decorated undercover DEA special agent, Garrett Kohl has traveled the world --- and fought in most of it --- but it’s the High Plains of northwest Texas he calls home and dreams of returning to one day. Kohl is in the middle of an assignment in Afghanistan when his commander orders him back to Texas on a short mission expected to take a week at most. The once-peaceful ranching community he loves is under attack by a band of criminals who have infiltrated law enforcement and corrupted local businesses, and are now terrorizing Kohl’s own family. Hoping to prevent bloodshed, Kohl tries to resolve matters peacefully. But when the group strikes first, he has no choice but to go on the attack.
William Morrow | 9780063066502
GHOSTS by Dolly Alderton (Romantic Comedy)
Nina Dean is about to publish her second book. She has a great relationship with her ex-boyfriend, and enough friends to keep her social calendar full. When she downloads a dating app, she does the seemingly impossible: She meets a great guy on her first date. Max is handsome and built like a lumberjack; he has floppy blond hair and a stable job. More surprising than anything else, Nina and Max have chemistry. But when Max ghosts her, Nina is forced to deal with everything she's been trying so hard to ignore: her father's Alzheimer's is getting worse, and so is her mother's denial of it; her editor hates her new book idea; and her best friend from childhood is icing her out.
Knopf | 9780593319857
THE GIRLS WHO STEPPED OUT OF LINE: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II by Major General Mari K. Eder (U.S. Army, Retired) (History)
THE GIRLS WHO STEPPED OUT OF LINE are the heroes of the Greatest Generation that you hardly ever hear about. These women who did extraordinary things didn't expect thanks and shied away from medals and recognition. Despite their amazing accomplishments, they've gone mostly unheralded and unrewarded. No longer. These are the women of World War II who served, fought, struggled and made things happen --- in and out of uniform. Retired U.S. Army Major General Mari K. Eder wrote this book because she knew their stories needed to be told --- and the sooner the better. For theirs is a legacy destined to embolden generations of women to come.
Sourcebooks | 9781728230924
THE GUILT TRIP by Sandie Jones (Psychological Thriller)
Rachel and Jack. Paige and Noah. Will and Ali. Five friends who’ve known each other for years. And Ali, Will’s new fiancée. The three couples travel to Portugal for Ali and Will’s destination wedding. Arriving at the gorgeous clifftop villa, the weekend away is a chance to relax and get to know Ali a little better. A newcomer to their group, she seems perfectly nice, and Will seems happy after years of bad choices. But when Rachel discovers a shocking secret about Ali, everything changes. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets each of them holds begin to spill, and friendships and marriages threaten to unravel.
Minotaur Books | 9781250265586
HER HEART FOR A COMPASS by Sarah Ferguson (Historical Fiction)
Queen Victoria’s close friend, the Scottish Duke of Buccleuch, Lady Margaret Montagu Scott is expected to make an advantageous marriage. But Margaret is an impulsive and outspoken girl in a repressive society where women are caged in corsets and required to conform. When Lady Margaret’s parents arrange a society marriage for her, she tries to reconcile herself to the match. But shortly before her betrothal is announced, Margaret flees. Banished from polite society, she throws herself into charitable work and finds strength in a circle of female friends like herself --- women intent on breaking the mold, including Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise.
William Morrow | 9780062976529
HOLDOUT by Jeffrey Kluger (Thriller)
Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut. She graduated at the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying fighter jets, and has spent more than 300 days in space. So when she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident that forces her fellow astronauts to evacuate, her American and Russian colleagues are mystified. For Walli, the matter at hand feels all too clear and terrifying for her to be worried about ruining her career. She is stuck in a race against time to save a part of the world that seems to have been forgotten, and also the life of the person she loves the most. She will go to any length necessary, using the only tool she has, to accomplish what she knows is right.
Dutton | 9780593184691
THE HUSBANDS by Chandler Baker (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Nora Spangler is a successful attorney, but when it comes to domestic life, she packs the lunches, schedules the doctor appointments, knows where the extra paper towel rolls are, and designs and orders the holiday cards. Her husband works hard, too...but why does it seem like she is always working so much harder? When the Spanglers go house hunting in Dynasty Ranch, an exclusive suburban neighborhood, Nora meets a group of high-powered women with enviably supportive husbands. When she agrees to help with a resident’s wrongful death case, she is pulled into the lives of the women there. As the case unravels, Nora uncovers a plot that may explain the secret to having it all. One that’s worth killing for.
Flatiron Books | 9781250319517
IF THE SHOE FITS: A Meant to Be Novel by Julie Murphy (Romantic Comedy)
Cindy loves shoes. As a fashion-obsessed plus-size woman, she can never find designer clothes that work on her body, but a special pair of shoes always fits just right. With a shiny new design degree but no job in sight, Cindy moves back in with her stepmother, Erica Tremaine, the executive producer of the world’s biggest dating reality show. When a contestant on “Before Midnight” bows out at the last minute, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight. Being the first and only fat contestant on the show turns her into a viral sensation, and a body-positivity icon, overnight. To make it to the end, Cindy will have to take a leap of faith and hope that her heels --- and her heart --- don’t break in the process.
Hyperion Avenue | 9781368050388
IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE by Ashley Winstead (Psychological Thriller)
Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to Duquette University. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see --- confident, beautiful, indifferent. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby's murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she'd been closest to since freshman year. But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette 10 years ago, and not everyone can let Heather's murder go unsolved. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night --- and the years' worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728229881
LADYPARTS: A Memoir by Deborah Copaken (Memoir)
Twenty years after her iconic memoir SHUTTERBABE, Deborah Copaken is at her darkly comedic nadir: battered, broke, divorcing, dissected and dying --- literally --- on sexism’s battlefield as she scoops up what she believes to be her internal organs into a glass container before heading off to the hospital…in an UberPool. LADYPARTS is her irreverent inventory of both the female body and the body politic of womanhood in America, the story of one woman brought to her knees by the 1-2-12 punch of divorce, solo motherhood, healthcare Frogger, unaffordable childcare, shady landlords, her father’s death, college tuitions, sexual harassment, corporate indifference, ageism, sexism and plain old bad luck.
Random House | 9781984855473
MADE IN CHINA: A Memoir of Love and Labor by Anna Qu (Memoir)
As a teen, Anna Qu is sent by her mother to work in her family's garment factory in Queens. At home, she is treated as a maid and suffers punishment for doing her homework at night. Her mother wants to teach her a lesson: she is Chinese, not American. But instead of acquiescing, Qu alerts the Office of Children and Family Services, an act with consequences that impact the rest of her life. Nearly 20 years later, estranged from her mother and working at a Manhattan start-up, Qu requests her OCFS report. When it arrives, key details are wrong. Faced with this false narrative, Qu looks once more at her life's truths, from abandonment to an abusive family to seeking dignity and meaning in work.
Catapult | 9781646220342
MONSTER HUNTER BLOODLINES by Larry Correia (Urban Fantasy/Adventure)
The chaos god Asag has been quiet since the destruction of the City of Monsters, but Monster Hunter International knows that he is still out there. When Owen and the MHI team discover that one of Isaac Newton's Ward Stones is being auctioned off by Reptoids who live deep beneath Atlanta, they decide to steal the magical superweapon and use it to destroy Asag once and for all. But before the stone can be handed off, it is stolen by a mysterious thief with ties to MHI and the Vatican's Secret Guard. It's a race against time, the Secret Guard, a spectral bounty hunter and a whole bunch of monsters to acquire the Ward Stone and use it against Asag. For as dangerous as the chaos god is, there is something much older --- and infinitely more evil --- awakening deep in the jungles of South America.
Baen | 9781982125493
ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES by Charlotte McConaghy (Fiction)
Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with her twin sister, Aggie, to lead a team of biologists tasked with reintroducing 14 gray wolves into the remote Highlands. She hopes to heal not only the dying landscape, but Aggie, too, unmade by the terrible secrets that drove the sisters out of Alaska. Inti is not the woman she once was, either, changed by the harm she’s witnessed. Yet as the wolves surprise everyone by thriving, Inti begins to let her guard down, even opening herself up to the possibility of love. But when a farmer is found dead, Inti knows where the town will lay blame. Unable to accept that her wolves could be responsible, Inti makes a reckless decision to protect them. But if the wolves didn’t make the kill, then who did? And what will Inti do when the man she is falling for seems to be the prime suspect?
Flatiron Books | 9781250244147
PALM BEACH by Mary Adkins (Fiction)
Rebecca and her husband, Mickey, typify struggling, 30-something New Yorkers --- he’s an actor, and she’s a freelance journalist. But after the arrival of their baby son, the couple decides to relocate to Palm Beach, where Mickey has been offered a sweet deal managing the household of a multimillionaire Democratic donor. Once there, he quickly doubles his salary by going to work for venture capitalist Cecil Stone. Rebecca, a writer whose beat is economic inequality, is initially horrified: she pillories men like Stone, a ruthless businessman famous for crushing local newspapers. So no one is more surprised than her when she accepts a job working for Cecil’s wife as a ghostwriter. As she and Mickey are pulled deeper into this topsy-turvy household, they become increasingly dependent on their problematic benefactors.
Harper | 9780063011373
THE PEOPLE WE KEEP by Allison Larkin (Fiction)
April Sawicki is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school and picking up shifts at Margo’s diner, she’s left fending for herself in a town where she’s never quite felt at home. When she “borrows” her neighbor’s car to perform at an open mic night, she realizes her life could be much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her dad, April packs her stuff and leaves for good, setting off on a journey to find a life that’s all hers. Driving without a chosen destination, she stops to rest in Ithaca. As she looks for work, she finds a kindred sense of belonging at Cafe Decadence, the local coffee shop. Still, somehow, it doesn’t make sense to her that life could be this easy.
Gallery Books | 9781982171292
THE PERFUME THIEF by Timothy Schaffert (Historical Fiction)
Clementine is a 72-year-old reformed con artist. Her life of crime has led her from the uber-wealthy perfume junkies of belle epoque Manhattan, to the scented butterflies of Costa Rica, to the spice markets of Marrakech, and finally to the bordellos of Paris, where she settles down in 1930 and opens a shop bottling her favorite extracts for the ladies of the cabarets. Now it's 1941, and Clem's favorite haunt, Madame Boulette's, is crawling with Nazis, while her people --- the outsiders, the artists and the hustlers who used to call it home --- are disappearing. Clem believes she's too old to put up a fight. But when the cabaret's prize songbird, Zoe St. Angel, recruits her to steal the recipe book of a now-missing famous Parisian perfumer, she can't say no.
Doubleday | 9780385545747
THE PRESIDENT AND THE FROG by Carolina De Robertis (Fiction)
The former president of an unnamed Latin American country receives a journalist in his famed gardens to discuss his legacy and the dire circumstances that threaten democracy around the globe. Once known as the Poorest President in the World, his reputation is the stuff of myth: a former guerilla who was jailed for inciting revolution before becoming the face of justice, human rights and selflessness for his nation. Now, as he talks to the journalist, he wonders if he should reveal the strange secret of his imprisonment: while held in brutal solitary confinement, he survived, in part, by discussing revolution, the quest for dignity, and what it means to love a country, with the only creature who ever spoke back --- a loud-mouth frog.
Knopf | 9780593318416
RABBIT HOLE by Mark Billingham (Thriller)
Alice Armitage is a police officer. Or she was. Following a debilitating bout of PTSD, self-medication with drink and drugs, and a psychotic breakdown, Alice is now a long-term patient in an acute psychiatric ward. Though convinced that she doesn’t really belong there, she finds companionship with the other patients in the ward despite their challenging and often intimidating issues. So when one of her fellow patients is murdered, Alice feels personally compelled to launch an investigation from within the ward. Soon, she becomes convinced that she has identified the killer and that she can catch them. But Alice’s life begins to unravel as she realizes that she cannot trust anyone in the ward, least of all herself.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802158703
RADIANT FUGITIVES by Nawaaz Ahmed (Fiction)
Working as a consultant for Kamala Harris’ attorney general campaign in Obama-era San Francisco, Seema has constructed a successful life for herself in the West, despite still struggling with her father’s long-ago decision to exile her from the family after she came out as lesbian. Now, nine months pregnant and estranged from the Black father of her unborn son, Seema seeks solace in the company of those she once thought lost to her: her ailing mother, Nafeesa, and her devoutly religious sister, Tahera. But instead of a joyful reconciliation anticipating the birth of a child, the events of this fateful week unearth years of betrayal, misunderstanding and complicated layers of love.
Counterpoint | 9781640094048
THE READING LIST by Sara Nisha Adams (Fiction)
Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life after losing his beloved wife. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too.
William Morrow | 9780063025288
SAVAGE TONGUES by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi (Fiction)
It’s summer when Arezu, an Iranian American teenager, goes to Spain to meet her estranged father at an apartment he owns there. He never shows up, instead sending her a weekly allowance, care of his step-nephew, Omar, a 40-year-old Lebanese man. As the weeks progress, Arezu is drawn into a mercurial, charged and ultimately catastrophic affair with Omar, a relationship that shatters her just at the cusp of adulthood. Two decades later, Arezu inherits the apartment. She returns with her best friend, Ellie, an Israeli-American scholar devoted to the Palestinian cause, to excavate the place and finally put to words a trauma she’s long held in silence.
Mariner Books | 9780358315063
SONGBIRDS by Christy Lefteri (Fiction)
Nisha works as a nanny and maid for a wealthy widow on the island of Cyprus. Yiannis is a poacher, trapping the tiny protected songbirds that stop in Cyprus as they migrate each year from Africa to Europe and selling them on the illegal market. He dreams of finding a new way of life, and of marrying Nisha. But one night, Nisha makes dinner for the family who pays her: Petra and her daughter, Aliki. Then, after she cleans the kitchen and tucks Aliki into bed, Nisha goes out on a mysterious errand and vanishes. When the police refuse to pursue the case, Petra takes on the investigation herself, a path that leads her to Nisha’s friends --- other workers in the neighborhood --- and to the darker side of a migrant’s life.
Ballantine Books | 9780593238042
SONGS FOR THE FLAMES: Stories by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Fiction/Short Stories)
The characters in SONGS FOR THE FLAMES are men and women touched by violence --- sometimes directly, sometimes only in passing --- but whose lives are changed forever, consumed by fire and by unexpected encounters and unyielding forces. A photographer becomes obsessed with the traumatic past that an elegant woman, a fellow guest staying at a countryside ranch, would rather leave behind. A military reunion forces a soldier to confront a troubling history, both personal and on a larger scale. And the search for a book leads a writer to the fascinating story of why a woman is buried next to a graveyard, rather than in it --- and the remarkable account of her journey from France to Colombia as a child orphan.
Riverhead Books | 9780593190135
TIN CAMP ROAD by Ellen Airgood (Fiction)
Laurel Hill and her precocious daughter, Skye, live on Lake Superior, where the local school has classes of just four children, and the nearest hospital is a helicopter ride away. But on one otherwise normal afternoon, their landlord decides to evict them in favor of a more profitable summer rental; without any warning, they are pushed farther to the margins. Suddenly it feels like the independence that has defined them is a liability. And when a dangerous incident threatens to separate them, Laurel and Skye must forever choose: Will they leave the place they love and the hardscrabble life they've built to move closer to civilization, or risk everything to embrace the emptiness and wildness that has defined them?
Riverhead Books | 9780399163364
THE TURNOUT by Megan Abbott (Thriller)
With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since they can remember. Growing up, they were homeschooled and trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents' death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prized student. Circling around one another, the three have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school's annual performance of "The Nutcracker," an interloper arrives and threatens the sisters' delicate balance.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593084908
WE ARE THE BRENNANS by Tracey Lange (Fiction)
When 29-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets --- secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives.
Celadon Books | 9781250796226
WE WERE NEVER HERE by Andrea Bartz (Psychological Thriller)
Emily is in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend.
Ballantine Books | 9781984820464
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES by Anna Bailey (Thriller)
When 17-year-old Abigail goes missing, her best friend Emma, compelled by the guilt of leaving her alone at a party in the woods, sets out to discover the truth about what happened. The police initially believe Abi ran away, but Emma doesn't believe that her friend would leave without her. When officers find disturbing evidence in the nearby woods, the festering secrets and longstanding resentment of both Abigail’s family and the people of Whistling Ridge, Colorado, begin to surface with devastating consequences. But Abi had secrets, too, and the closer Emma grows to unraveling the past, the farther she feels from her friend.
Atria Books | 9781982157166
On Sale the Week of August 2nd in Paperback
August 3rd
AFTERSHOCKS: A Memoir by Nadia Owusu (Memoir)
Young Nadia Owusu followed her father, a United Nations official, from Europe to Africa and back again. Just as she and her family settled into a new home, he would tell them it was time to say their goodbyes. The instability wrought by Nadia’s nomadic childhood was deepened by family secrets and fractures, both lived and inherited. After her father’s passing, Nadia’s stepmother weighed her down with a revelation that was either a bombshell secret or a lie, rife with shaming innuendo. Nadia arrived in New York feeling uncertain about her future, yet eager to find her own identity. What followed, however, were periods of depression in which she struggled to hold herself and her siblings together.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982111236
THE BARRISTER AND THE LETTER OF MARQUE by Todd M. Johnson (Historical Mystery/Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
Lady Madeleine Jameson, a struggling heiress, arrives at the door of Barrister William Snopes in a last-ditch effort to save her faltering estate. She invested in the acquisition of a merchant brig, the Padget, allowed by a letter of marque from the king's regent to legally capture cargo from French traders operating illegally in the Indian Sea. Yet when the ship returns to the London harbor, it's met by constables and soldiers ready to seize its goods, accusing the sailors of piracy. And the letter proving their legality has disappeared. William Snopes cautiously takes the case. But as he gets deeper into the mystery and prepares for trial, he learns that the forces arrayed against Lady Jameson, and now himself, are even more powerful than he'd imagined.
Bethany House Publishers | 9780764212369
BEING LOLITA: A Memoir by Alisson Wood (Memoir)
A lonely and vulnerable high school senior, Alisson finds solace only in her writing --- and in a young, charismatic English teacher. Mr. North gives Alisson a copy of LOLITA to read, telling her it is a beautiful story about love. The book soon becomes the backdrop to a connection that blooms from a simple crush into a forbidden romance. But as Mr. North’s hold on her tightens, Alisson is forced to evaluate how much of their narrative is actually a disturbing fiction. In the wake of what becomes a deeply abusive relationship, Alisson is faced again and again with the story of her past, from rereading LOLITA in college to working with teenage girls to becoming a professor of creative writing.
Flatiron Books | 9781250217233
DARK SKY: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box (Mystery/Thriller)
The governor of Wyoming gives Joe Pickett the thankless assignment of taking a tech baron on an elk-hunting trip. Unbeknownst to them, as they trek farther into the wilderness, a manhunter is hot on their heels. Finding himself without a weapon, a horse or a way to communicate, Joe must rely on his wits and his knowledge of the outdoors to protect himself and his charge. Meanwhile, when Joe's closest friend, Nate Romanowski, and his own daughter Sheridan learn of the threat to his life, they follow him into the woods to try and rescue him before it's too late.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525538301
DID I SAY YOU COULD GO by Melanie Gideon (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
When Ruth, a wealthy divorcée, offers to host a kindergarten meet-and-greet, she hopes this will be a fresh start for her and her introverted daughter, Marley. Instead, the parents are turned off by Ruth’s ostentatious wealth, and Ruth and Marley become outcasts. The last guest to arrive at the meet-and-greet is Gemma, a widow and a single mother to her daughter, Bee. Ruth sets her sights on them, and soon the two families are inseparable. But when Ruth’s affair with a married Hillside dad is exposed, Gemma severs ties with Ruth. Six years later, Gemma finds herself embroiled in a scandal of her own, and Ruth comes to her defense. Soon, though, Gemma starts to feel trapped as Ruth grows more and more obsessed with their relationship.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982142124
THE DIVINE MISS MARBLE: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery by Robert Weintraub (Biography)
In her public life, she was the biggest tennis star of the pre-war era. She also was a fashion designer and trendsetter, a contributor to a pioneering new comic called Wonder Woman --- and friend to the biggest names in Hollywood and society. She helped integrate tennis with her support of Althea Gibson, and even coached two young women who became stars in their own right: Billie Jean King and Sally Ride. Yet her private life provoked constant speculation while she was alive, and her own memoirs added layers of legend upon stories. In THE DIVINE MISS MARBLE, bestselling author Robert Weintraub traveled the country to uncover her fascinating story. And the more he learned about her, the more her mysteries and contradictions deepened.
Dutton | 9781524745370
THE EIGHTH DETECTIVE by Alex Pavesi (Mystery)
There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out, publishing seven perfect detective stories to demonstrate the rules of murder. But that was 30 years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island --- until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished, and together the two of them must revisit those old stories. But as she reads the stories, Julia is unsettled to realize that there are parts that don't make sense. Intricate clues seem to reference a real murder --- one that's remained unsolved for 30 years. If Julia wants answers, she must triumph in a battle of wits with a dangerously clever adversary.
Picador | 9781250798473
THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But as the champagne is popped and the festivities get underway, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And, perhaps more importantly, why?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062868947
HIS ONLY WIFE by Peace Adzo Medie (Fiction)
Afi Tekple is a young seamstress in Ghana. Smart and pretty, she also has been convinced by her mother to marry a man she doesn’t know: a wealthy businessman named Elikem. His family has chosen Afi in the hopes that she will distract him from a current relationship they disapprove of. When Afi is moved from her small hometown to live in Accra, Ghana’s gleaming capital full of wealth and sophistication, she is not prepared for the way her life will change. But she has agreed to this marriage in order to give her mother the financial security she desperately needs, and so Afi must see it through. Or must she?
Algonquin Books | 9781643751467
KEPT ANIMALS by Kate Milliken (Fiction)
It’s 1993, and Rory Ramos works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, California, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. While Rory draws the interest of out-and-proud June, she’s more intrigued by Vivian Price, the beautiful girl with the movie-star father who lives down the hill. Rory keeps largely separate from the likes of the Prices --- but, perched on her bedroom windowsill, she steals glimpses of Vivian swimming in her pool nearly every night. After Rory’s stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June and Vivian become inextricably bound together.
Scribner | 9781501188596
THE LAST MRS. SUMMERS: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Historical Mystery)
Georgie’s best friend, Belinda, inherits a spooky house in Cornwall and asks Georgie to go with her to inspect the property. When they arrive, they meet Rose, a woman Belinda knew as a child when she spent her summers with her grandmother in Cornwall. Rose is now married to Tony Summers, Belinda’s childhood crush, but confides that she thinks Tony killed his first wife. She asks Georgie and Belinda to observe Tony’s behavior and their surroundings. But during a thunderstorm, the lights go out and Tony is found dead. All clues point to Belinda as the prime suspect. Now Georgie must uncover the secrets that led to Tony’s death and find out if he was villain or victim before Belinda takes the fall for his murder.
Berkley | 9780451492883
MILK FED by Melissa Broder (Fiction/Humor)
Rachel is 24, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of existential control, through obsessive food rituals, while working as an underling at a Los Angeles talent management agency. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Rachel is content to carry on subsisting --- until her therapist encourages her to take a 90-day communication detox from her mother, who raised her in the tradition of calorie counting. Rachel soon meets Miriam, a zaftig young Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her favorite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam, and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk and honey.
Scribner | 9781982142506
MUST I GO by Yiyun Li (Fiction)
Lilia Liska has shrewdly outlived three husbands, raised five children and seen the arrival of 17 grandchildren. Now she has turned her keen attention to the diary of a long-forgotten man named Roland Bouley, with whom she once had a fleeting affair. Increasingly obsessed with Roland's intimate history, Lilia begins to annotate the diary with her own rather different version of events, revealing the surprising, long-held secrets of her past. She returns inexorably to the memory of her daughter, Lucy. This is a novel about life in all its messy glory, and of a life lived, by the extraordinary Lilia, absolutely on its own terms. Yiyun Li navigates the twin poles of grief and resilience, loss and rebirth, that compass a human heart.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780399589133
THE NIGHT SINGER by Johanna Mo (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Police detective Hannah Duncker didn’t expect to return to her native Öland. She fled after her father’s murder conviction and returns to make peace with her shame. She has a new job with the local police and a nosy new partner. A 15-year-old’s death catapults her into a murder investigation that resurrects ghosts from her previous life. As she hunts for the truth, she must confront the people she abandoned. Not all are pleased to see her back home, and she soon learns that digging through the past comes with consequences.
Penguin Books | 9780143136682
THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin (Psychological Thriller)
The new season of Rachel Krall's true-crime podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation --- but she keeps receiving mysterious letters. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases --- and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250219695
RELENTLESS: A Gray Man Novel by Mark Greaney (Thriller)
Intelligence operatives around the world are disappearing. When a missing American agent reappears in Venezuela, Court Gentry, the Gray Man, is dispatched to bring him in, but a team of assassins has other ideas. Court escapes with his life and a vital piece of intelligence. Meanwhile, CIA agent Zoya Zakharova is in Berlin. Her mission: to infiltrate a private intelligence firm with some alarming connections. The closer she gets to answers, the less likely she is to get out alive. Court and Zoya are just two pieces on this international chessboard, and they're about to discover one undeniable truth --- sometimes capturing a king requires sacrificing some pawns.
Berkley | 9780593098974
THE SAFE PLACE by Anna Downes (Psychological Thriller)
Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job and her apartment in one miserable day. Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily. Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife, Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn't play along, the consequences could be deadly.
Minotaur Books | 9781250264817
SISTERS IN ARMS: A Novel of the Daring Black Women Who Served During World War II by Kaia Alderson (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Grace Steele and Eliza Jones may be from completely different backgrounds, but when it comes to the army, specifically the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), they are both starting from the same level. Not only will they be among the first class of female officers the army has even seen, they are also the first Black women allowed to serve. As these courageous women help to form the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, they are dealing with more than just army bureaucracy --- everyone is determined to see this experiment fail. For two northern women, learning to navigate their way through the segregated army may be tougher than boot camp.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062964588
SIX DAYS IN AUGUST: The Story of Stockholm Syndrome by David King (True Crime)
On the morning of August 23, 1973, a man wearing a wig, makeup and a pair of sunglasses walked into the main branch of Sveriges Kreditbank, a prominent bank in central Stockholm. He ripped out a submachine gun, fired it into the ceiling and shouted, "The party starts!" This was the beginning of a six-day hostage crisis --- and media circus --- that would mesmerize the world. Complicated emotional relationships developed between captors and captives that would launch a remarkable new concept into the realm of psychology, hostage negotiation and popular culture. SIX DAYS IN AUGUST captures the surreal events in their entirety, on an almost minute-by-minute basis, and forces us to consider "Stockholm syndrome" in an entirely new light.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393867541
THE SLEEPING NYMPH: A Teresa Battaglia Novel written by Ilaria Tuti, translated by Ekin Oklap (Mystery/Thriller)
A decades-old murder investigation has landed on Superintendent Teresa Battaglia's desk. DNA analysis has revealed that a painting from the final days of World War II contains matter from a human heart. Teresa is able to trace the evidence to Val Resia, one of Italy’s most isolated, untouched regions. When Teresa’s investigation hits too close to the truth, a fresh human heart is hung at the valley’s entrance, a warning not to cross its threshold. As she hunts a ruthless killer, Teresa must face down her own rapidly deteriorating physical and cognitive abilities, as well as someone she hoped never to see again --- a man who has just become her supervisor.
Soho Crime | 9781641292894
THE SMALLEST LIGHTS IN THE UNIVERSE: A Memoir by Sara Seager (Science/Memoir)
Sara Seager has always been in love with the stars. Now a pioneering planetary scientist, she searches for exoplanets --- especially that distant, elusive world that sustains life. But with the unexpected death of Seager’s husband, the purpose of her own life becomes hard for her to see. Suddenly, at 40, she is a widow and the single mother of two young boys. For the first time, she feels alone in the universe. As she struggles to navigate her life after loss, Seager takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets and the technical challenges of exploration. At the same time, she discovers earthbound connections that feel every bit as wondrous, when strangers and loved ones alike reach out to her across the space of her grief.
Crown | 9780525576266
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?
Penguin Books | 9781984880987
TRUE STORY by Kate Reed Petty (Fiction)
2015. A gifted and reclusive ghostwriter, Alice Lovett makes a living helping other people tell their stories. But she is haunted by the one story she can't tell: the story of "the things that happened while I was asleep." 1999. Nick Brothers and his lacrosse teammates return for their senior year at their wealthy Maryland high school as the reigning state champions. They're on top of the world --- until two of his friends drive a passed-out girl home from one of the team's "legendary" parties, and a rumor about what happened in the backseat spreads through the town like wildfire. Nick descends into alcoholism, and Alice builds a life in fits and starts, underestimating herself and placing her trust in the wrong people. When she finally gets the opportunity to confront a past that she can't remember, will she take it?
Penguin Books | 9781984877703
V2: A Novel of World War II by Robert Harris (Historical Thriller)
It's November 1944. Willi Graf, a German rocket engineer, is launching Nazi Germany's V2 rockets at London from Occupied Holland. Kay Connolly, once an actress, now a young English Intelligence officer, ships out for Belgium to locate the launch sites and neutralize the threat. But when rumors of a defector circulate through the German ranks, Graf becomes a suspect. Unknown to each other, Graf and Connolly find themselves on opposite sides in the hunt for the saboteur. Their twin stories play out against the background of the German missile campaign, one of the most epic and modern but least explored episodes of the Second World War. Their destinies are on a collision course.
Vintage | 9780525567097
THE WEEKEND by Charlotte Wood (Fiction)
Four older women have a lifelong friendship of the best kind: loving, practical, frank and steadfast. But when Sylvie dies, the ground shifts dangerously for the remaining three. Struggling to recall exactly why they've remained close all these years, the grieving women gather at Sylvie's old beach house to clean it out before it is sold. Can they survive together without her? Without Sylvie to maintain the group's delicate equilibrium, frustrations build and painful memories press in. Fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests and too much wine collide in a storm that brings long-buried hurts to the surface --- and threatens to sweep away their friendship for good.
Riverhead Books | 9780593086445
WHEN ALL LIGHT FAILS: A Ryan DeMarco Mystery by Randall Silvis (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
There's not much that would convince retired police sergeant Ryan DeMarco to take on another private investigation case, but he can't refuse a nine-year-old Michigan girl begging for help finding her biological father. The road trip to the Upper Peninsula promises DeMarco and his partner, Jayme, a chance to heal from their last case, which ended in a traumatic brush with death for DeMarco. But things aren't as they first appear in the woods of Michigan, and the seemingly simple paternity investigation soon morphs into something deadly. The deeper DeMarco, Jayme and the rest of their team dig, the more ugly truths they reveal, all while doing their best to keep one member of their team from falling prey to her own kind of darkness.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728223582
THE WOMAN IN RED by Diana Giovinazzo (Historical Fiction)
Destiny toys with us all, but Anita Garibaldi is a force to be reckoned with. Forced into marriage at a young age, Anita feels trapped in a union she does not want. But when she meets the leader of the Brazilian resistance, Giuseppe Garibaldi, in 1839, everything changes. Swept into a passionate affair with the idolized mercenary, Anita's life is suddenly consumed by the plight to liberate Southern Brazil from Portugal --- a struggle that would cost thousands of lives and span almost 10 bloody years. Little did she know that this first taste of revolution would lead her to cross oceans, traverse continents and alter the course of her entire life --- and the world.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538717431
THE WONDER BOY OF WHISTLE STOP by Fannie Flagg (Fiction)
Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, and his Aunt Idgie. Together they ran the town’s popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes. But sadly, as the railroad yards shut down and Whistle Stop became a ghost town, nothing was left but boarded-up buildings and memories of a happier time. Then one day, Bud decides to take one last trip, just to see what has become of his beloved Whistle Stop. In so doing, he discovers new friends, as well as surprises about Idgie’s life and the town itself. He also sets off a series of events that change his life and the lives of his daughter and many others.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593133866
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