January 11, 2022

January 11, 2022

We see that we have a lot of new subscribers this week,
so welcome to you --- and to our longtime readers, welcome back!

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 10th and January 17th 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 New Release Spotlight of THE LAST DANCE OF THE DEBUTANTE by Julia Kelly, a masterful, glittering novel that whisks you to midcentury Britain as it follows three of the last debutantes to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II.

Our latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Xochitl Gonzalez, whose debut novel, OLGA DIES DREAMING, is our current Fiction Author Spotlight title and an upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.

Olga is a wedding planner for New York socialite types, and she deftly handles all of their quirks and high-end dreams. Her brother is a politician in Brooklyn who strives to represent the Puerto Rican community. While they seem to be in control of their lives, these appearances are deceiving. Both are haunted by their absent mother, who was a revolutionary in Puerto Rico. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, their lives collide with her again.

In the interview, Xochitl explains how her life and work have been influenced by growing up in Brooklyn. She talks about writing OLGA DIES DREAMING, which started at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was once conceived as a memoir. She also penned the Hulu pilot script for the book and shares her writing process for that, as well as what it was like being on set with the cast and crew. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.

Last Chance to Enter Our Year-End Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com
OLGA DIES DREAMING is just one of the prizes in our End-of-the-Year Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com. We’re giving readers the opportunity to share their favorite book that they read with their group in 2021 and their favorite book that they read outside their group.

One Grand Prize winner will be awarded OLGA DIES DREAMING, along with seven other novels releasing this year that we think will make for terrific book group discussions: THE GOOD SON by Jacquelyn Mitchard, HER HIDDEN GENIUS by Marie Benedict, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE STREET by Diane Chamberlain, THE MAGNOLIA PALACE by Fiona Davis, THE MAID by Nita Prose, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS by Jessamine Chan, and VIOLETA by Isabel Allende.

To enter, please fill out this form by TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 12th at noon ET. We will share our reader-compiled "Best Of" list with you in our next ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter.

For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

As so many book and author events are happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.

Wednesday, January 12th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books": Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between January 4th and February 1st, along with a few from March, that she would like to get on your radar.

Wednesday, January 12th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Jeffery Deaver, whose latest thriller is THE MIDNIGHT LOCK.

Wednesday, January 12th at 8pm ET: Women & Children First: Join Women & Children First for a virtual book launch party celebrating the release of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS by Jessamine Chan, this month's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick. For this event, Jessamine will be in conversation with Kim Brooks.

Wednesday, January 12th at 8:30pm ET: Book Passage: Jean Chen Ho will be in conversation with Vanessa Hua about her debut, FIONA AND JANE, a bracingly honest account of two Asian women who dare to stake a claim on joy in a changing, contemporary America.

Wednesday, January 12th at 10pm ET: Third Place Books: Third Place Books welcomes one of their favorite local writers, Jonathan Evision, for the launch of his latest novel, SMALL WORLD. He will be joined in conversation by Robert Sindelar, Managing Partner at Third Place Books.

Thursday, January 13th at 7pm ET: Cuyahoga County Public Library: Jonathan Evison will be in conversation with Kristin Hannah about his new work of fiction, SMALL WORLD.

Thursday, January 13th at 8pm ET: Murder By The Book: Elizabeth George and T. Jefferson Parker will be in conversation about their latest books, SOMETHING TO HIDE and A THOUSAND STEPS.

Thursday, January 13th at 9pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Alafair Burke will talk about her latest mystery, FIND ME, in which the disappearance of a young woman leaves her best friend reeling and an NYPD homicide detective digging into her own past.

Monday, January 17th at 9pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's will host T. Jefferson Parker as he discusses his new book, A THOUSAND STEPS, with C.J. Box.

Tuesday, January 18th at 7:30pm ET: Macmillan Publishers: Join New York Times bestselling biographer Charles J. Shields for a virtual discussion of his latest book, LORRAINE HANSBERRY: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun, with Alison Cuddy.

Tuesday, January 18th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Lisa Gardner will discuss her new thriller, ONE STEP TOO FAR, with Caroline Kepnes.

This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's New Release Spotlight of
THE LAST DANCE OF THE DEBUTANTE by Julia Kelly

On Sale the Week of January 10th in Hardcover

January 10th

THE HORSEWOMAN by James Patterson and Mike Lupica (Thriller)
Maggie Atwood and Becky McCabe are mother and daughter. Both champion riders, they vowed to never, ever go up against one another. Until the tense, harrowing competitions leading to the Paris Olympics. Mother and daughter share a dream: to be the best horsewoman in the world. Coronado is Maggie’s horse. An absolutely top-tier Belgian warmblood. Sky is Becky’s horse. A small, speedy Dutch warmblood. Only James Patterson could bring you such breakneck speed, hair-raising thrills and spills. Only hall of fame sportswriter Mike Lupica could make it all so real.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316499774

January 11th

ANTOINETTE'S SISTER by Diana Giovinazzo (Historical Fiction)
Austria, 1767: Maria Carolina Charlotte --- the 10th daughter and one of 16 children of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria --- knows her position as a Habsburg archduchess will inevitably force her to leave her home, family and cherished sister, Antoinette, whose companionship she values over all else. But not yet. The Habsburg family is celebrating a great triumph: Charlotte’s older sister, Josepha, has been promised to King Ferdinand IV of Naples and will soon take her place as queen. Before she can journey to her new home, however, tragedy strikes. After visiting the family crypt, Josepha contracts smallpox and dies. Shocked, Charlotte is forced to face an unthinkable new reality: she now must marry Ferdinand in her sister’s stead.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538720127

BLANK PAGES: And Other Stories by Bernard MacLaverty (Fiction/Short Stories)
Tinged with melancholy but rooted in resiliency, the exquisite stories in Bernard MacLaverty’s BLANK PAGES display the perseverance of the human spirit. In “A Love Picture,” a middle-aged woman, already no stranger to loss, consults a World War II newsreel to determine the fate of her son. “Blackthorns” tells of a poor, out-of-work Catholic man who falls gravely ill in the sectarian Northern Ireland of 1942 but is brought back from the brink by an unlikely savior. The harrowing but transcendent “The End of Days” imagines life in another pandemic as artist Egon Schiele and his wife, both stricken with the Spanish flu, spend their final days together. And in the poignant title story, an elderly writer takes stock of what remains after losing his life partner.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393881592

BOX 88 by Charles Cumming (Thriller)
Lachlan Kite is a member of BOX 88, an elite transatlantic black ops outfit so covert that not even MI6 and the CIA are certain of its existence. But even the best spy can’t anticipate every potential threat in a world where dangerous actors lurk around every corner. At the funeral of his childhood best friend, Lachlan falls into a trap that drops him into the hands of a potentially deadly interrogation, with his pregnant wife, also abducted, being held as collateral for the information he’s sworn on his own life to protect. In order to save his family, Lachlan will be forced to revisit painful memories of a special assignment from 30 years ago that allowed him special access to one of Iran’s most dangerous men.
Mysterious Press | 9781613162736

CHASING HISTORY: A Kid in the Newsroom by Carl Bernstein (Memoir)
In 1960, Carl Bernstein was just a 16-year-old at considerable risk of failing to graduate high school. Inquisitive, self-taught --- and, yes, truant --- Bernstein landed a job as a copyboy at the Evening Star, the afternoon paper in Washington. By 19, he was a reporter there. In CHASING HISTORY: A Kid in the Newsroom, Bernstein recalls the origins of his storied journalistic career as he chronicles the Kennedy era, the swelling civil rights movement, and a slew of grisly crimes. He spins a buoyant, frenetic account of educating himself in what Bob Woodward describes as “the genius of perpetual engagement.”
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627791502

DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS by Sue Lynn Tan (Fantasy)
Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, untrained and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the Crown Prince, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the emperor’s son. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies.
Harper Voyager | 9780063031302

END OF DAYS: A Pike Logan Novel by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
When a paragliding trip over the picturesque mountains of Switzerland results in the brutal murder of the former head of Israeli intelligence, Mossad brings in terrorist hunters Aaron and Shoshana to investigate. But they'll need help to find out who was behind the attack and what they’re planning next. Luckily, Aaron and Shoshana know exactly who to call: taskforce operators Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill. Some suspect that Keta’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-funded militia group operating in Iraq, might be responsible for the “accidental” deaths of key members of the American and Israeli governments. But something isn’t adding up, and Pike, Jennifer and the two Mossad operators are determined to find the real assassins before more people are cut down.
William Morrow | 9780062886101

THE FINAL CASE by David Guterson (Literary Thriller)
A girl dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. The girl, Abeba, was born in Ethiopia. Her adoptive parents, Delvin and Betsy Harvey --- conservative, white fundamentalist Christians --- are charged with her murder. Royal, a Seattle criminal attorney in the last days of his long career, takes Betsy Harvey’s case. An octogenarian without a driver’s license, he leans on his son --- the novel’s narrator --- as he prepares for trial.
Knopf | 9780525521327

FIND ME by Alafair Burke (Mystery/Thriller)
She calls herself Hope Miller, but she has no idea who she actually is. Fifteen years ago, she was found in a small New Jersey town thrown from an overturned vehicle. She eventually started a new life with a new name in a new town that welcomed her, yet she always wondered what she may have left behind. Now, she’s leaving New Jersey to start over once again. Her friend, Manhattan defense lawyer Lindsay Kelly, discovers that she has vanished without a trace --- the only lead a drop of blood found where she was last seen. Even more ominously, the blood matches a DNA sample with a connection to a notorious Kansas murderer. Lindsay calls NYPD homicide detective Ellie Hatcher, who fears that Hope’s recent disappearance could be related to her father's death 20 years earlier.
Harper | 9780062853363

A FLICKER IN THE DARK by Stacy Willingham (Psychological Thriller)
When Chloe Davis was 12, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath. Now, 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back.
Minotaur Books | 9781250803825

I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU: Writing Myself Home by Jami Attenberg (Memoir)
As the daughter of a traveling salesman in the Midwest, Jami Attenberg was drawn to a life on the road. Frustrated by quotidian jobs and hungry for inspiration and fresh experiences, her wanderlust led her across the country and eventually on travels around the globe. Through it all, she grapples with questions of mortality, otherworldliness and what we leave behind. It is during these adventures that she begins to reflect on the experiences of her youth. Driving across America on self-funded book tours, sometimes crashing on couches when she was broke, she keeps writing. In researching articles for magazines, jotting down ideas for novels and refining her craft, she grows as an artist and increasingly learns to trust her gut and, ultimately, herself.
Ecco | 9780063039797

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE STREET by Diane Chamberlain (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
1965: Growing up in the well-to-do town of Round Hill, North Carolina, Ellie Hockley has chosen to spend her summer break as a volunteer helping to register Black voters. But as she follows her ideals fighting for the civil rights of the marginalized, her scandalized parents scorn her efforts, and her neighbors reveal their prejudices. 2010: Architect Kayla Carter and her husband designed a beautiful house for themselves in Round Hill’s new development, Shadow Ridge Estates. It was supposed to be a home where they could raise their three-year-old daughter and grow old together. Instead, it’s the place where Kayla’s husband died in an accident. And her neighbor, Ellie Hockley, is harboring long-buried secrets about the dark history of the land where her house was built.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250267962

A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME: How I Found the Calm After the Storm by Ginger Zee (Memoir)
When Ginger Zee opened her life to readers in NATURAL DISASTER, the response was enormous. She put a very relatable if surprising face on depression and has helped lessen the stigma surrounding mental health issues. But Ginger tells us, the book was "Ginger Lite" and only scratched the surface. In this moving follow-up, Ginger shares her truest self. She spent most of her life shielding her vulnerabilities from the world all while being a professional people pleaser. Her stormy childhood, her ongoing struggles with crippling depression, her suicide attempts and many other life experiences will resonate with readers who are likely to see themselves along the way.
Hyperion Avenue | 9781368042000

LOST & FOUND: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz (Memoir)
Eighteen months before Kathryn Schulz’s beloved father died, she met the woman she would marry. In LOST & FOUND, she weaves the stories of those relationships into a brilliant exploration of how all our lives are shaped by loss and discovery --- from the maddening disappearance of everyday objects to the sweeping devastations of war, pandemic and natural disaster; from finding new planets to falling in love. Three very different American families form the heart of this book: the one that made Schulz’s father, a charming, brilliant, absentminded Jewish refugee; the one that made her partner, an equally brilliant farmer’s daughter and devout Christian; and the one she herself makes through marriage.
Random House | 9780525512462

MOUTH TO MOUTH by Antoine Wilson (Psychological Thriller)
In a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life --- a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man. Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved. Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye on Jeff and sees something worthy. Their paths come together and diverge in dizzying ways until the novel’s staggering ending.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982181802

MY ANNIHILATION written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Sam Bett (Psychological Thriller)
With MY ANNIHILATION, Fuminori Nakamura, master of literary noir, has constructed a puzzle box of a narrative in the form of a confessional diary that implicates its reader in a heinous crime. Delving relentlessly into the darkest corners of human consciousness, the novel interrogates the unspeakable thoughts all humans share that can be monstrous when brought to life, revealing with disturbing honesty the psychological motives of a killer.
Soho Crime | 9781641292726

THE PARIS BOOKSELLER by Kerri Maher (Historical Fiction)
When bookish young American Sylvia Beach opens Shakespeare and Company on a quiet street in Paris in 1919, she has no idea that she and her new bookstore will change the course of literature itself. Shakespeare and Company is more than a bookstore and lending library: Many of the prominent writers of the Lost Generation, like Ernest Hemingway, consider it a second home. It's where some of the most important literary friendships of the 20th century are forged --- none more so than the one between Irish writer James Joyce and Sylvia herself. When Joyce's controversial novel ULYSSES is banned, Beach takes a massive risk and publishes it under the auspices of Shakespeare and Company. Doing so comes with steep costs.
Berkley | 9780593102183

RISE: My Story by Lindsey Vonn (Memoir)
A fixture in the American sports landscape for almost 20 years, Lindsey Vonn is a legend. With a career that spanned a transformation in how America recognizes and celebrates female athletes, Vonn --- who retired in 2019 as the most decorated American skier of all time --- was in the vanguard of that change, helping blaze a trail for other world-class female athletes and reimagining what it meant to pursue speed at all costs. In RISE, Vonn shares her incredible journey for the first time, going behind the scenes of a badass life built around resilience and risk-taking. She also opens up about her decades-long depression and struggles with self-confidence, discussing candidly how her mental health challenges influenced her career without defining her.
Dey Street Books | 9780062889447

SMALL WORLD by Jonathan Evison (Historical Fiction)
Set against such iconic backdrops as the California gold rush, the development of the transcontinental railroad, and a speeding train of modern-day strangers forced together by fate, SMALL WORLD asks big questions. In exploring the passengers’ lives and those of their ancestors more than a century before, the novel chronicles 170 years of American nation-building from numerous points of view across place and time. And it does it with a full-hearted, full-throttle pace that asks on the most human, intimate scale whether it is truly possible to meet, and survive, the choices posed --- and forced --- by the age.
Dutton | 9780593184127

SOMETHING TO HIDE: A Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George (Mystery)
When a police detective is taken off life support after falling into a coma, only an autopsy reveals the murderous act that precipitated her death. She'd been working on a special task force within North London's Nigerian community, and Acting Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley is assigned to the case, which has far-reaching cultural associations that have nothing to do with life as he knows it. In his pursuit of a killer determined to remain hidden, he's assisted by Detective Sergeants Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata. They must sort through the lies and the secret lives of people whose superficial cooperation masks the damage they do to one another.
Viking | 9780593296844

THE STARS ARE NOT YET BELLS by Hannah Lillith Assadi (Gothic Fiction)
Off the coast of Georgia, near Savannah, generations have been tempted by strange blue lights in the sky near an island called Lyra. At the height of WWII, impressionable young Elle Ranier leaves New York City to forge a new life together on the island with her new husband, Simon. There they will live for decades, raising a family while waging a quixotic campaign to find the source of the mysterious blue offshore light --- and the elusive minerals rumored to lurk beneath the surface. Fifty years later, Elle looks back at her life on the mysterious island --- and at a secret she herself has guarded for decades.
Riverhead Books | 9780593084366

A THOUSAND STEPS by T. Jefferson Parker (Historical Thriller)
Laguna Beach, California, 1968. Folks from all over are flocking there seeking peace, love and enlightenment. Matt Anthony is just trying to get by. Matt is 16, broke and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom is a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother is fighting in Vietnam…and his big sister, Jazz, has just gone missing. The cops figure she’s just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn’t believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach. In a town where the cops don’t trust the hippies and the hippies don’t trust the cops, uncovering what’s really happened to Jazz is going to force Matt to grow up fast.
Forge Books | 9781250793539

TO PARADISE by Hanya Yanagihara (Fiction)
In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him --- and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances.
Doubleday | 9780385547932

WAHALA by Nikki May (Fiction)
Ronke is dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one.” Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends. Boo has everything Ronke wants, but she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt and desperate to remember who she used to be. Simi is the golden one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by impostor syndrome and tempted to pack it all in each time her boss mentions her “urban vibe.” Her husband thinks they’re trying for a baby. She’s not. When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, it seems at first she’s bringing out the best in each woman. But the more she intervenes, the more chaos she sows, and Ronke, Simi and Boo’s close friendship begins to crack.
Custom House | 9780063084247

YONDER by Jabari Asim (Historical Fiction)
Cato and William meet at Placid Hall, a plantation in an unspecified part of the American South. Subject to the whims of their tyrannical and eccentric captor, Cannonball Greene, they never know what harm may befall them: inhumane physical toil in the plantation’s quarry by day, a beating by night, or the sale of a loved one at any moment. The latter hurts the reserved and stubborn William, who finds himself falling for Margaret, a small but mighty woman with self-possession beyond her years. And it hurts Cato, whose first love, Iris, was sold off with no forewarning. He now finds solace in his hearty band of friends. But their relationships begin to fray when a visiting minister with a mysterious past starts to fill their heads with ideas about independence.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982163167

January 15th

A DREAM LIFE by Claire Messud (Fiction)
When the Armstrong family moves from New York at the dawn of the 1970s, Australia feels, to Alice Armstrong, like the end of the earth. Residing in a grand manor on the glittering Sydney Harbour, her family finds their life has turned upside down. As she navigates this strange new world, Alice must weave an existence from its shimmering mirage.
Tablo Tales | 9781649697295

On Sale the Week of January 10th in Paperback

January 11th

ALL I WANT by Darcey Bell (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
When Emma’s husband, Ben, falls in love with a large Victorian mansion for sale in upstate New York, he swears to her the fixer-upper will be worth the risk. With a baby on the way, Emma would like to live in a charming, safe community --- and in a space larger than a one-bedroom New York City apartment. On impulse, she agrees to Ben’s plan and they put in an offer on the house. Sure, the mansion has a somewhat creepy backstory and is a bit dilapidated, but Emma and Ben are in this together. Aren't they? When strange things start happening, Emma begins to experience a little buyer’s remorse. What’s the real history of this house? Is its dark history repeating itself? Why does her husband suddenly seem so distant? Is she in danger? Is her baby?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982177270

THE BAD MUSLIM DISCOUNT by Syed M. Masood (Fiction)
It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order, his family decides to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim. At the same time, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father, will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and Safwa's worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community --- and families --- to their core.
Anchor | 9781984897411

BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME by Julia Claiborne Johnson (Historical Fiction)
It’s 1938, and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to Reno, Nevada. But they have to wait six weeks to become “residents.” Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need. Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he’s earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St. Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.
Custom House | 9780062916389

THE CHARMED WIFE by Olga Grushin (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Cinderella married the man of her dreams --- the perfect ending she deserved after diligently following all the fairy-tale rules. Yet now, 13 and a half years later, things have gone badly wrong and her life is far from perfect. One night, fed up and exhausted, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the Witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. Instead, she wants him dead.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593085523

THE CHILDREN’S BLIZZARD by Melanie Benjamin (Historical Fiction)
The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a punishing cold spell. It was warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota Territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats --- leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard blew in without warning. Schoolteachers as young as 16 were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: Keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn’t get lost in the storm.
Bantam | 9780399182303

A FATAL LIE: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
A peaceful Welsh village is thrown into turmoil when a terrified boy stumbles on a body in a nearby river. With little to go on, the village police turn to Scotland Yard for help in identifying the body. When Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent from London to find answers, he is given few clues --- a faded military tattoo on the victim’s arm and an unusual label in the collar of his shirt. They eventually lead him to the victim’s identity: Sam Milford. By all accounts, he was a good man and well-respected. Then why is his death so mysterious? Rutledge uncovers a web of lies swirling around a suicidal woman, a child’s tragic fate, another woman bent on protecting her past. But where among all the lies is the motive for murder?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062905567

FEATHERHOOD: A Memoir of Two Fathers and a Magpie by Charlie Gilmour (Memoir)
This is a story of two men who could talk to birds --- but were completely incapable of talking to each other. A father who fled from his family in the dead of night, and the jackdaw he raised like a child. A son obsessed with his absence --- and the young magpie that fell into his path and refused to fly away. This is a story about the crow family and human family; about repetition across generations and birds that run in the blood; about a terror of repeating the sins of the father and a desire to build a nest of one’s own.
Scribner | 9781501198519

GOBLIN: A Novel in Six Novellas by Josh Malerman (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Goblin seems like any other ordinary small town. But with Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you’ll discover the secrets that hide behind its closed doors. These six novellas --- "A Man in Slices," "Kamp," "Happy Birthday, Hunter!," "Presto," "A Mix-Up at the Zoo" and "The Hedges" --- tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await.
Del Rey | 9780593237823

HADES, ARGENTINA by Daniel Loedel (Fiction)
In 1976, Tomás Orilla is a medical student in Buenos Aires, where he has moved in hopes of reuniting with Isabel, a childhood crush. But the reckless passion that has long drawn him is leading Isabel ever deeper into the ranks of the insurgency fighting an increasingly oppressive regime. Tomás has always been willing to follow her anywhere and do anything to prove himself. Yet what exactly is he proving, and at what cost to them both? It will be years before a summons back arrives for Tomás, now living as Thomas Shore in New York. What awaits him is an odyssey into the past, an encounter with the ghosts that lurk there, and a reckoning with the fatal gap between who he has become and who he once aspired to be.
Riverhead Books | 9780593188651

THE HOUSE ON VESPER SANDS by Paraic O'Donnell (Historical Mystery)
London, 1893: High up in a house on a dark, snowy night, a lone seamstress stands by a window. So begins the swirling, serpentine world of Paraic O’Donnell’s Victorian-inspired mystery, the story of a city cloaked in shadow, but burning with questions: Why does the seamstress jump from the window? Why is a cryptic message stitched into her skin? And how is she connected to a rash of missing girls, all of whom seem to have disappeared under similar circumstances? On the case is Inspector Cutter, a detective as sharp and committed to his work as he is wryly hilarious. Gideon Bliss, a Cambridge dropout in love with one of the missing girls, stumbles into a role as Cutter’s sidekick. And clever young journalist Octavia Hillingdon sees the case as a chance to tell a story that matters.
Tin House Books | 9781951142988

LEGENDS OF THE NORTH CASCADES by Jonathan Evison (Fiction)
On the heels of his third tour in Iraq, the fabric of Dave Cartwright’s life has begun to unravel. Gripped by PTSD, he finds himself losing his home, his wife, his direction. When tragedy strikes, Dave makes a dramatic decision: he and his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, will head off the grid to live in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. As they carve out a home in a cave in that harsh, breathtaking landscape, echoes of its past begin to reach them. Bella retreats into herself, absorbed by visions of a mother and son who lived in the cave thousands of years earlier, at the end of the last ice age. Back in town, Dave and Bella themselves are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend --- to all but those who would force them to return home.
Algonquin Books | 9781643752488

A MORE PERFECT UNION by Tammye Huf (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Henry O’Toole sails to America in 1848 to escape the famine in Ireland, only to face anti-immigrant prejudice. Determined never to starve again, he changes his surname to Taylor and heads south to Virginia, seeking work as a traveling blacksmith on the prosperous plantations. Torn from her home and sold to Jubilee Plantation, Sarah must navigate its intricate hierarchy. And now an enigmatic blacksmith is promising her not just the world but also her freedom. How could she say no? Enslaved at Jubilee Plantation, Maple is desperate to return to her husband and daughter. With Sarah’s arrival, she sees her chance to be reunited at last with her family. But at what cost?
Forever | 9781538720851

ONE GOT AWAY by S.A. Lelchuk (Thriller)
Private investigator Nikki Griffin is on a case. The reclusive matriarch of one of San Francisco’s wealthiest and most private families has been defrauded by a con-man, and her furious son enlists Nikki to find the money and the con-man, Dr. Geoffrey Coombs. Quietly running her used bookstore by day, her secret mission is to do everything she can to remove the innocent from dangerous situations --- and punish the men responsible. As Nikki draws closer to Coombs and learns more about who he really is, she is taken aback to realize that they might share more in common than she would like to admit. But while she closes in on Coombs, others are looking for him, too. As Nikki glimpses secrets that powerful people want to remain hidden, she begins to suspect that lives are in peril.
Flatiron Books | 9781250170293

OUR KIND OF PEOPLE by Carol Wallace (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Helen Wilcox has one desire: to successfully launch her daughters into society. From the upper crust herself, Helen's unconventional --- if happy --- marriage has made the girls' social position precarious. Then her husband gambles the family fortunes on an elevated railroad that he claims will transform the face of the city and the way the people of New York live. But will it ruin the Wilcoxes first? As daughters Jemima and Alice navigate the rise and fall of their family, each is forced to re-examine who she is, and even who she is meant to love.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | ‎9780525540021

RAFT OF STARS by Andrew J. Graff (Fiction)
It’s the summer of 1994 in Claypot, Wisconsin, and the lives of 10-year-old Fischer “Fish” Branson and Dale “Bread” Breadwin are shaped by the two fathers they don’t talk about. One night, tired of seeing his best friend bruised and terrorized by his no-good dad, Fish takes action. A gunshot rings out, and the two boys flee the scene, believing themselves murderers. They head for the woods, where they find their way onto a raft. Four adults track them into the forest: Fish’s mother, Miranda, a wise woman full of fierce faith; his granddad, Teddy, who knows the woods like the back of his hand; Tiffany, a purple-haired gas station attendant and poet looking for connection; and Sheriff Cal, who’s having doubts about a life in law enforcement.
Ecco | 9780063031913

THE RIB KING by Ladee Hubbard (Historical Fiction)
For 15 years, August Sitwell has worked for the Barclays, a well-to-do white family who plucked him from an orphan asylum. The groundskeeper is part of the household’s all-Black staff, along with “Miss Mamie,” the talented cook, pretty new maid Jennie Williams, and three young kitchen apprentices. But the Barclays’ fortunes have fallen, and their money is almost gone. When a prospective business associate proposes selling Miss Mamie’s rib sauce to local markets under the brand name “The Rib King” --- using a caricature of a wildly grinning August on the label --- Mr. Barclay agrees. Yet neither Miss Mamie nor August will see a dime. August grows increasingly distraught, his anger building to a rage that explodes in shocking tragedy.
Amistad | 9780062979070

RUTHIE FEAR by Maxim Loskutoff (Fiction)
As a child in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, Ruthie Fear sees an apparition: a strange, headless creature near a canyon creek. Its presence haunts her throughout her youth. Raised in a trailer by her stubborn, bowhunting father, Ruthie develops a powerful connection with the natural world but struggles to find her place in a society shaped by men. Development, gun violence and her father’s vendettas threaten her mountain home. As she comes of age, her small community begins to fracture in the face of class tension and encroaching natural disaster, and the creature she saw long ago reappears as a portent of the valley’s final reckoning.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393868364

THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel. Elin Warner has taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept. Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge --- there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her.
Penguin Books | 9780593296691

SMOKE: An IQ Novel by Joe Ide (Mystery)
Isaiah Quintabe is no longer IQ, the genius of East Long Beach. Instead, he’s a man on the road and on the run, hiding in a small Northern California town when his room is broken into by a desperate young man on the trail of the state’s most prolific serial killer. His old partner, Juanell Dodson, must go straight or lose his wife and child. His devil’s bargain? An internship at an LA advertising agency, where it turns out the rules of the street have simply been dressed in business casual, but where the aging company’s fortunes may well rest on their ability to attract a younger demographic. Dodson --- ”the hustler’s hustler” --- just may be the right man for the job.
Mulholland Books | 9780316531078

SUMMERWATER by Sarah Moss (Fiction)
They rarely speak to each other, but they take notice --- watching from the safety of their cabins, making judgments from what little they know of their temporary neighbors. At daylight, a mother races up the mountain, fleeing into her precious dose of solitude. A retired man studies her return as he reminisces about the park’s better days. A young woman wonders about his politics as she sees him head for a drive with his wife. A teenage boy escapes the scrutiny of his family, braving the dark waters of the loch in a kayak. This cascade of perspective shows each wrapped up in personal concerns as they begin to notice one particular family that doesn’t seem to belong. Tensions rise, until nightfall brings an irrevocable turn.
Picador | 9781250829511

THE SURVIVORS by Jane Harper (Mystery/Thriller)
Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home. Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn. When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl and questions that have never washed away.
Flatiron Books | 9781250232434

THREE-MARTINI AFTERNOONS AT THE RITZ: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath & Anne Sexton by Gail Crowther (Biography)
Introduced at a workshop in Boston University led by the acclaimed and famous poet Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton formed a friendship that would soon evolve into a fierce rivalry, colored by jealousy and respect in equal terms. In the years that followed, these two women would not only become iconic figures in literature, but also lead curiously parallel lives haunted by mental illness, suicide attempts, self-doubt and difficult personal relationships. With weekly martini meetings at the Ritz to discuss everything from sex to suicide, theirs was a relationship as complex and subversive as their poetry.
Gallery Books | 9781982138424

WALKING WITH GHOSTS: A Memoir by Gabriel Byrne (Memoir)
Born to working class parents and the eldest of six children, Gabriel Byrne harbored a childhood desire to become a priest. At 11 years old, he found himself crossing the Irish Sea to join a seminary in England. Four years later, he had been expelled and quickly returned to his native city of Dublin. It was a friend who suggested Byrne join an amateur drama group, a decision that would change his life forever and launch him on an extraordinary 40-year career in film and theater. Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and reflections on stardom in Hollywood and Broadway, Byrne also courageously recounts his battle with addiction and the ambivalence of fame.
Grove Press | 9780802157133

On Sale the Week of January 17th in Hardcover

January 18th

ADMISSIONS: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James (Memoir)
Early on in Kendra James’ professional life, she began to feel like she was selling a lie. As an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep schools, she persuaded students and families to embark on the same perilous journey she herself had made --- to attend cutthroat and largely white schools similar to The Taft School, where she had been the first African-American legacy student only a few years earlier. Her new job forced her to reflect on her own elite education experience, and to realize how disillusioned she had become with America’s inequitable system.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538753484

DESOLATION CANYON by P. J. Tracy (Mystery/Thriller)
LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan is struggling to move forward after the death of her brother in Afghanistan and taking a life in the line of duty. A moment of weakness leads to cocktails with a colleague --- an attraction she knows could be dangerous --- at the luxurious Hotel Bel-Air bar. A stroll through the grounds leads to a grim discovery beneath the surface of Swan Lake: the body of a successful attorney who made his fortune in international trade. It initially appears to be death by misadventure, but the case is anything but straightforward. As a series of shocking revelations emerge, Nolan finds herself confronting a sinister cabal that just might destroy her and everyone she loves.
Minotaur Books | 9781250754950

THE DOOMSDAY MOTHER: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family by John Glatt (True Crime)
At first, the residents of Kauai Beach Resort took little notice of their new neighbors. The couple seemed to keep to themselves --- until the police knocked on their door with a search warrant. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had fled to Hawaii in the midst of being investigated for the disappearance of Lori’s children, Tylee and JJ, back in Idaho. As authorities searched for the missing children, they uncovered more suspicious deaths with links to both Lori and Chad. In June 2020, the remains of JJ and Tylee were discovered on Chad’s property, and the newlyweds were charged with murder. And in a shocking development, horrifying statements revealed that their fanatical beliefs had convinced them the children had become zombies.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250276674

ENOUGH ALREADY: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today by Valerie Bertinelli (Memoir)
Despite her success receiving Emmys for her Food Network show and critical praise for her books and cookbook, beloved actress Valerie Bertinelli still judged herself harshly if she gained a pound or showed too many wrinkles. But after her mother died, she found an old recipe box with notes of the strong women who came before her, reminding her that she has to find out who she is and take care of herself. Saying “enough already!” Bertinelli set out on a journey to love herself and see that perfection is not the goal; it’s the joy we can find every day in our lives, our loved ones and the food we share.
Mariner Books | 9780358567363

FREE: A Child and a Country at the End of History by Lea Ypi (Memoir)
For precocious 11-year-old Lea Ypi, Albania’s Soviet-style socialism held the promise of a preordained future. That is, until she found herself clinging to a stone statue of Joseph Stalin, newly beheaded by student protests. When the early ’90s saw Albania and other Balkan countries exuberantly begin a transition to the “free market,” Western ideals of freedom delivered chaos: a dystopia of pyramid schemes, organized crime and sex trafficking. With her elegant, intellectual, French-speaking grandmother; her radical-chic father; and her staunchly anti-socialist, Thatcherite mother to guide her through these disorienting times, Lea had a political education of the most colorful sort --- here recounted with outstanding literary talent.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393867732

THE GOOD SON by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Fiction)
Thea's son, Stefan, was just 17 when he went to prison for the drug-fueled murder of his girlfriend, Belinda. Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. Belinda’s mother, once Thea’s good friend, galvanizes the community to rally against him to protest in her daughter’s memory. The media paints Stefan as a symbol of white privilege and indifferent justice. Neighbors, employers, even some members of Thea's own family turn away. Meanwhile, Thea struggles to understand her son. As his efforts to make amends meet escalating resistance and threats, Thea suspects more forces are at play than just community outrage. And if there is so much she never knew about her own son, what other secrets has she yet to uncover --- especially about the night Belinda died?
Mira | 9780778311799

HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK by Sequoia Nagamatsu (Science Fiction)
In 2030, a grieving archaeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.
William Morrow | 9780063072640

JOAN IS OKAY by Weike Wang (Fiction)
Joan is a thirtysomething ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children, Joan is intensely devoted to her work, happily solitary and successful. Once she and her brother, Fang, were established in their careers, her parents moved back to China, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in their homeland. But when Joan’s father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children, a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital, her city and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined.
Random House | 9780525654834

THE LEOPARD IS LOOSE by Stephen Harrigan (Historical Fiction)
For Grady McClarty, an ever-watchful but bewildered five-year-old boy, World War II is only a troubling, ungraspable event that occurred before he was born. But he feels its effects all around him. He and his older brother Danny are fatherless, and their mother, Bethie, is still grieving for her fighter-pilot husband. Most of all, Grady senses it in his two uncles: young combat veterans determined to step into a fatherhood role for their nephews, even as they struggle with the psychological scars they carry from the war. When news breaks that a leopard has escaped from the Oklahoma City Zoo, the playthings and imagined fears of Grady’s childhood begin to give way to real-world terrors, most imminently the dangerous jungle cat itself.
Knopf | 9780525655770

LIGHTNING IN A MIRROR by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
Olivia LeClair's experiment with speed dating is not going well. First there was the nasty encounter with the date from hell who tried to murder her, and now the mysterious Harlan Rancourt --- long believed dead --- sits down at her table and tells her she's the only one who can help him locate the legendary Vortex lab. This is not what Olivia had in mind when she signed up for the Four Event Success Guaranteed package offered by the dating agency. She doesn't have much choice, though, because her psychic investigation firm works for the mysterious Foundation, and Victor Arganbright, the director, is adamant that she assist Harlan. There's just one problem --- no one knows Harlan's real agenda.
Berkley | 9780593337752

LORRAINE HANSBERRY: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles J. Shields (Biography)
Written when she was just 28, Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark A RAISIN IN THE SUN is listed by the National Theatre as one of the hundred most significant works of the 20th century. Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, and the first Black and youngest American playwright to win a New York Critics’ Circle Award. Charles J. Shields’ authoritative biography of one of the 20th century’s most admired playwrights examines the parts of Hansberry’s life that have escaped public knowledge: the influence of her upper-class background, her fight for peace and nuclear disarmament, the reason why she embraced Communism during the Cold War, and her dependence on her white husband --- her best friend, critic and promoter.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250205537

MANIFESTO: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo (Memoir)
Bernardine Evaristo’s nonfiction debut is a vibrant and inspirational account of her life and career as she rebelled against the mainstream and fought over several decades to bring her creative work into the world. With her characteristic humor, Evaristo describes her childhood as one of eight siblings, with a Nigerian father and white Catholic mother, tells the story of how she helped set up Britain’s first Black women’s theatre company, remembers the queer relationships of her 20s, and recounts her determination to write books that were absent in the literary world around her. She provides a hugely powerful perspective to contemporary conversations around race, class, feminism, sexuality and aging.
Grove Press | 9780802158901

THE MIRROR MAN: A Killer Instinct Novel written by Lars Kepler, translated by Alice Menzies (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Sixteen-year-old Jenny Lind is kidnapped in broad daylight on her way home from school and thrown into the back of a truck. She’s taken to a dilapidated house, where she and other girls face horrors far beyond their worst nightmares. Though they’re desperate to escape, their captor foils every one of their attempts. Five years later, Jenny’s body is found hanging in a playground. As the police are scrambling to find a lead in the scant evidence, Detective Joona Linna recognizes an eerie connection between Jenny’s murder and a death declared a suicide years before. And when another teenage girl goes missing, it becomes clear to Joona that they’re dealing with a serial killer --- and his murderous rampage may have just begun.
Knopf | 9780593321027

THE MITFORD VANISHING: A Mitford Murders Mystery by Jessica Fellowes (Historical Mystery)
1937. War with Germany is dawning, and a civil war already rages in Spain. Split across political lines, the six Mitford sisters are more divided than ever. Meanwhile, their former maid, Louisa Cannon, is now a private detective, working with her policeman husband, Guy Sullivan. Louisa and Guy are surprised when a call comes in from novelist Nancy Mitford requesting that they look into the disappearance of her Communist sister Jessica in Spain. But one case leads to another as they are also asked to investigate the mysterious vanishing of a soldier. As the two cases come together, Louisa and Guy discover that every marriage has its secrets --- but some are deadlier than others.
Minotaur Books | 9781250819208

ONE STEP TOO FAR by Lisa Gardner (Mystery/Thriller)
ONE STEP TOO FAR sends missing persons expert Frankie Elkin into a national forest in Wyoming looking for a young man who disappeared without a trace. But when the search team encounters immediate threats to their survival, Frankie realizes she’s up against something very dark --- and she’s running out of time.
Dutton | 9780593185414

PUTTING THE RABBIT IN THE HAT: A Memoir by Brian Cox (Memoir)
From Hannibal Lecktor in Manhunter to media magnate Logan Roy in HBO's “Succession,” Brian Cox has made his name as an actor of unparalleled distinction and versatility. We are familiar with him on screen, but few know of his extraordinary life story. Growing up in Dundee, Scotland, Cox lost his father when he was just eight years old and was brought up by his three elder sisters in the aftermath of his mother's nervous breakdowns and ultimate hospitalization. After joining the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of 15, you could say the rest is history --- but that is to overlook the enormous effort that has gone into the making of the legend we know today.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538707296

REAL EASY by Marie Rutkoski (Mystery/Thriller)
It’s 1999, and Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club. The newest dancer is so clueless that she feels compelled to help her learn the hustle and drama of the club. One night, when the new girl needs a ride home, Samantha agrees to drive --- a simple decision that turns deadly. Georgia, another dancer drawn into the ensuing murder and missing person investigation, gathers information for Holly, a grieving detective determined to solve the case. Georgia just wants to help, but her involvement makes her a target. As Holly and Georgia round up their suspects, the story’s point of view shifts among dancers, detectives, children, club patrons --- and the killer.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250788245

ROBERT B. PARKER'S BYE BYE BABY: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins (Mystery)
Carolina Garcia-Ramirez is a rising star in national politics, taking on the establishment with her progressive agenda. Now facing her second campaign, she finds herself not only fighting a tight primary with an old guard challenger but also contending with numerous death threats coming from hundreds of suspects. It doesn’t take long for Spenser to cross paths with an extremist group called The Minutemen, led by a wealthy Harvard grad named Bishop Graves. Although Graves is a social media sensation, pushing an agenda of white supremacy and toxic masculinity, he denies he’s behind the attacks. As the primary nears and threats become a deadly plot, it’s up to Spenser, Hawk and a surprise trusted ally to ensure the congresswoman is safe.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593328514

THE RUNAWAY: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller)
War veteran Peter Ash is driving through northern Nebraska when he encounters a young pregnant woman alone on a gravel road, her car dead. Peter offers her a lift, but what begins as an act of kindness soon turns into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase across the lonely highways with the woman’s vicious ex-cop husband hot on their trail. The pregnant woman has seen something she was never meant to see…but protecting her might prove to be more than Peter can handle. In order to save the woman and himself, Peter must use everything he has learned during his time as a Marine, including his knowledge of human nature, in order to escape a ruthless killer with instincts and skills that match --- and perhaps exceed --- Peter’s own.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525535508

SUCH A PRETTY SMILE by Kristi DeMeester (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not even her mother, the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila is terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice --- until she is punished for using it. 2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape. Caroline’s past is filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand. As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250274212

TARGETED: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel by Stephen Hunter (Political Thriller)
After his successful takedown of a dangerous terrorist, Bob Lee Swagger learns that no good deed goes unpunished. Summoned to court by the United States Congress, Swagger is accused of reckless endangerment by a hardheaded anti-gun congresswoman. But what begins as political posturing soon turns deadly when the auditorium where the committee is being held is attacked. Swagger, the congresswoman, and numerous bystanders and reporters are taken hostage by a group of violent operatives. Trapped in the auditorium and still struggling with injuries from his last assignment, Swagger must rely on his instincts, his shooting skills and the help of a mysterious rogue sniper on the outside to ensure that everyone makes it out alive.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982169794

TIDES by Sara Freeman (Fiction)
After a sudden, devastating loss, Mara flees her family and ends up adrift in a wealthy seaside town with a dead cell phone and barely any money. Mired in her grief, Mara detaches from the outside world and spends her days of self-imposed exile scrounging for food and swimming in the night ocean. In her state of emotional extremis, the sea at the town's edge is rendered bleak, luminous and implacable. As her money runs out and tourist season comes to a close, Mara finds a job at the local wine store. There, she meets Simon, the shop's soft-spoken, lonely owner. Confronted with the possibility of connection with Simon and the slow return of her desires and appetites, the reasons for her flight begin to emerge.
Grove Press | ‎9780802159175

YINKA, WHERE IS YOUR HUZBAND? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn (Romantic Comedy)
Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that’s a whole other story.  But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right. Still, when her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences Operation Find-A-Date for Rachel's Wedding. Aided by a spreadsheet and her best friend, Yinka is determined to succeed. Will Yinka find herself a huzband? And what if the thing she really needs to find is herself?
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593299005

On Sale the Week of January 17th in Paperback

January 18th

ANNIE AND THE WOLVES by Andromeda Romano-Lax (Historical/Speculative Fiction)
Ruth McClintock is obsessed with Annie Oakley and is convinced that a scarring childhood event was the impetus for her crusade to arm every woman in America. She has managed to hunt down what may be a journal of Oakley’s midlife struggles, including secret visits to a psychoanalyst and the desire for vengeance against the “Wolves,” or those who have wronged her. As she attempts to establish the journal’s provenance, she has begun to have jarring out-of-body episodes parallel to Annie’s own lived experiences. As she solves Annie’s mysteries, Ruth confronts her own truths, including the link between her teenage sister’s suicide and an impending tragedy in her Minnesota town that Ruth can still prevent.
Soho Press | 9781641293167

BLACK BUCK by Mateo Askaripour (Satire/Dark Humor)
An unambitious 22-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother. A chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, New York City’s hottest tech startup, results in an exclusive invitation for Darren to join an elite sales team on the 36th floor. After enduring a “hell week” of training, Darren, the only Black person in the company, reimagines himself as “Buck,” a ruthless salesman unrecognizable to his friends and family. But when things turn tragic at home and Buck feels he’s hit rock bottom, he begins to hatch a plan to help young people of color infiltrate America’s sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game.
Mariner Books | 9780358627982

THE BLACK CHURCH: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (History)
For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity --- an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’ distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative.
Penguin Books | 9781984880352

THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING by Jamie Harrison (Fiction)
For Polly, the small town of Livingston, Montana, is a land charmed by raw, natural beauty and a close network of family that extends back generations. But the summer of 2002 finds Polly at a crossroads: a recent head injury has scattered her perception of the present, bringing to the surface long-forgotten events. As Polly's many relatives arrive for a family reunion during the Fourth of July holiday, a beloved friend goes missing on the Yellowstone River. Search parties comb the river as carefully as Polly combs her mind, and over the course of one fateful week, Polly arrives at a deeper understanding of herself and her larger-than-life relatives.
Counterpoint | 9781640094680

CHEAT DAY by Liv Stratman (Fiction/Humor)
Kit is stuck in a loop. She keeps quitting her job managing her sister’s bakery to seek a more ambitious profession, but fear of failure always brings her back to Sweet Cheeks. She finds a fraught solace in cycling through fad diets, which her husband David, in his efforts to be supportive, follows along with her. Their latest program is the Radiant Regimen, an intense cleanse, and Kit is optimistic about embarking on a new chapter of healthy eating and self-control. Hungry in more ways than one, she soon falls into a flirtation with a carpenter named Matt, who is building new shelves for the bakery kitchen. Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Kit and Matt soon begin a passionate affair. Kit suppresses her guilt by obsessing over her diet, pushing herself to greater extremes.
Scribner | 9781982140557

THE DOCTORS BLACKWELL: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura (Biography)
Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood. Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine, her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male medical establishment. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to receive an M.D. She was soon joined in her iconic achievement by her younger sister, Emily, who was actually the more brilliant physician. Exploring the sisters’ allies, enemies and enduring partnership, Janice P. Nimura presents a story of trial and triumph.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324020202

THE EX-HUSBAND by Karen Hamilton (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Charlotte has an unsavory past. She married the wrong man, falling for Sam’s sweet-talking charm and charisma, and got caught up in his con artist games. Now Sam is missing. But before he disappeared, he left urgent, cryptic messages about someone who has been threatening him and Charlotte. So Charlotte takes a job as a personal assistant for an engagement party aboard a private luxury cruise ship, the Cleobella, to get far away from anyone who means her harm. But as the Cleobella sails through its glittering destinations, increasingly sinister events haunt the guests, and the turquoise waves and sun-drenched beaches give way to something darker. Someone knows what Charlotte did and wants revenge --- before the ship reaches its final port.
Graydon House | 9781525811609

AN EXTRAVAGANT DEATH: A Charles Lenox Mystery by Charles Finch (Historical Mystery)
London, 1878. With faith in Scotland Yard shattered after a damning corruption investigation, Charles Lenox's detective agency is rapidly expanding. The gentleman sleuth has all the work he can handle, two children and an intriguing new murder case. But when Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli offers him the opportunity to undertake a diplomatic mission for the Queen, Lenox welcomes the chance to satisfy an unfulfilled yearning: to travel to America. Arriving in New York, he begins to receive introductions into both its old Knickerbocker society and its new robber baron splendor. Then a shock: the death of the season's most beautiful debutante, who appears to have thrown herself from a cliff. Or was it a suicide?
Minotaur Books | 9781250767158

LAND: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World by Simon Winchester (History/Economics)
Land --- whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city --- is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. In LAND, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing --- and have done --- with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet. The book examines in depth how we acquire land, how we steward it, how and why we fight over it, and finally, how we can, and on occasion do, come to share it. Ultimately, Winchester confronts the essential question: Who actually owns the world’s land --- and why does it matter?
Harper Perennial | 9780062938343

MUST LOVE BOOKS by Shauna Robinson (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Nora Hughes landed an editorial assistant position at Parsons Press, it was her first step towards The Dream Job. But after five years of lunch orders, finicky authors and per my last emails, Nora has come to one grand conclusion: Dream Jobs do not exist. With her life spiraling and the Parsons staff sinking, Nora gets hit with even worse news. Parsons is cutting her already unlivable salary. Unable to afford her rent, Nora decides to moonlight for a rival publisher to make ends meet...and maybe poach some Parsons' authors along the way. But when Andrew Santos, a bestselling Parsons author no one can afford to lose, is thrown into the mix, Nora has to decide where her loyalties lie.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728240732

NICK by Michael Farris Smith (Historical Fiction)
Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he was at the center of a very different story --- one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I. Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance --- doomed from the very beginning --- to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavor of debauchery and violence.
Back Bay Books | 9780316529778

THE ONES WE KEEP by Bobbie Jean Huff (Fiction)
Paperback Original
A quiet lakeside resort in Vermont seems like the perfect summer getaway for Olivia and Harry Somerville and their three young boys. But in a single moment, their idyllic family retreat becomes a mother's worst nightmare. Returning from a solo hike one afternoon, Olivia learns from a passing stranger that one of her sons has drowned --- but not which one. In that moment, Olivia makes a panicked decision that will change her family forever. If she never knows which son has drowned, can Olivia convince herself that none of them have? By shielding herself from reality, can she continue to live in a world where all three boys are still alive?
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728239057

REMINDERS OF HIM by Colleen Hoover (Romance)
Paperback Original
After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.
Montlake | 9781542025607

SOMEBODY’S HOME by Kaira Rouda (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Julie Jones has left her suffocating marriage. With her teenage daughter, Jess, she’s starting over. Their new house in Oceanside is the first step toward a new life. The previous owners, a pastor and his wife, have left something --- or rather someone --- behind. Tom Dean has a bitter hatred for the father who considers him a lost cause, and for the woman who’s moved into their family’s house. The only home he’s ever known. He’s never going to leave. She thinks he’ll be gone in three days, but Tom has the perfect plan. For a newly single mother and her daughter, a fresh start is the beginning of a nightmare. Before the weekend is over, somebody is going to get exactly what they deserve.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542026116

TAKE IT BACK by Kia Abdullah (Legal Thriller)
Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, has exchanged her high-profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. When Jodie Wolfe, a 16-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families, and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her. But Zara does, and she is determined to fight for Jodie to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250827654

UNDER PRESSURE: A Lucas Page Novel by Robert Pobi (Thriller)
On a beautiful October evening, New York City's iconic Guggenheim Museum is closed for a tech company's private gala. Until an explosion rocks the night, instantly killing 702 people, including every single attendee --- yet the damage to the building itself was minimal. An explosion of that precision was no accident. In response, the FBI mobilizes its entire team, but the sheer number of victims strains their resources. Dr. Lucas Page is uniquely gifted for the task at hand --- he can visualize a crime scene as if he was a bystander and can break down any set of data at a glance. Even though Page wants nothing to do with the FBI, with his city under attack and his family at risk, he steps in to find a killer in a haystack before they strike again.
Minotaur Books | 9781250842718

WAITING FOR THE NIGHT SONG by Julie Carrick Dalton (Literary Mystery)
Cadie Kessler has spent decades trying to cover up one truth. One moment. But deep down, didn’t she always know her secret would surface? An urgent message from her long-estranged best friend, Daniela Garcia, brings Cadie, now a forestry researcher, back to her childhood home. There, Cadie and Daniela are forced to face a dark secret that ended both their idyllic childhood bond and the magical summer that takes up more space in Cadie’s memory then all her other years combined. Now grown up, bound by long-held oaths, and faced with truths she does not wish to see, Cadie must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect the people and the forest she loves, as drought, foreclosures and wildfire spark tensions between displaced migrant farm workers and locals.
Forge Books | 9781250269201

WHERE THERE’S A WILL: A Rowland Sinclair WWII Mystery by Sulari Gentill (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
American millionaire Daniel Cartwright has been shot dead: three times in the chest and once in the head. His body is found in Harvard Yard, dressed in evening attire. No one knows who he planned to meet there, or why the staunch Oxford man would be caught dead at Harvard --- literally. Australian Rowland Sinclair, his mate from Oxford and longtime friend, is named executor of the will, to his great surprise --- and that of Danny's family. Events turn downright ugly when the will all but disinherits Danny's siblings in favor of one Otis Norcross, whom no one knows or is able to locate. Amidst assault, kidnapping and threats of slander, Rowly struggles to understand Danny's motives, find the missing heir and identify his friend's killer before the clock --- and his luck --- runs out.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464214905

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