February 22, 2022

February 22, 2022

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of February 21st and February 28th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary for THE OTHER FAMILY, a fast-paced new stand-alone thriller from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub. Here, a family making a fresh start moves into a house that was the site of an unsolved triple homicide --- and they're being watched by an unknown person. If you missed Carol's "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Wendy, you can watch it here and listen to the podcast here.

Our latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Charmaine Wilkerson, whose debut novel, BLACK CAKE, is this month's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick and a Bets On selection. After their mother's death, Byron and Benny are left a voice recording from her and a black cake that is not to be eaten until they finish listening. The siblings are taken on a journey into their mysterious family history.

In the interview, Charmaine explains how she approached the novel with small snippets of ideas, which came together to weave a larger story. She also discusses her characters --- how she discovered them and where she took them. And yes, she talks about the preparation of a black cake. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.

Reminder About Wednesday's Event! We have one really fun event coming up, and this is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for it. It's our “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event, which will be taking place TOMORROW, Wednesday, February 23rd at 8pm ET. Our guest will be Lisa Scottoline, whose first historical novel, ETERNAL, released this month in paperback.

Here’s the format if you have never participated in one of these programs before. We will open with Carol talking to Lisa about ETERNAL and asking her some questions about what’s next for her. Following Carol's opening dialogue with her, Lisa will answer questions from our attendees, including a select few who will join us “on stage.”

If you would like to ask your question on camera during the event, please send Carol an email with the subject line “Question for Lisa Scottoline,” along with your question, by Wednesday at noon ET. Those who are camera shy may share their thoughts with her via the Q&A section on Zoom. Austin Ruh, our producer, will then share them with Lisa. We look forward to “seeing” you there.

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, February 23rd 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 V. E. Schwab about her new young adult fantasy novel, GALLANT.

Wednesday, February 23rd at 7pm ET: McNally Jackson Books: Julie Otsuka will be in conversation with Katie Kitaumra about her new novel, THE SWIMMERS, which is about what happens to a group of obsessed recreational swimmers when a crack appears at the bottom of their local pool.

Wednesday, February 23rd at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Lisa Scottoline about her first historical novel, ETERNAL. Lisa also will answer questions from guests who will be "on stage," as well as from other members of the audience. If you have a question for Lisa that you would like to ask on camera, please send Carol an email with the subject line “Question for Lisa Scottoline” by Wednesday at noon ET.

Thursday, February 24th at 2pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Lucy Foley for a live, virtual event to celebrate the release of THE PARIS APARTMENT as part of their B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. Lucy will be in conversation with Laura Dave (THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME).

Thursday, February 24th at 8pm ET: Boswell Book Company and Books & Company: Lan Samantha Chang will talk to Chang-rae Lee about her latest novel, THE FAMILY CHAO, which is this month's Barnes & Noble Book Club pick.

Monday, February 28th at 2pm ET: Murder By The Book: Lucy Foley will talk about her new novel, THE PARIS APARTMENT, a locked room mystery set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide. She will be in conversation with Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello.

Tuesday, March 1st at 8pm ET: Square Books: Square Books is pleased to partner with Books & Books and other indie bookstores across the country to present "An Evening with Margaret Atwood and Judy Blume" in celebration of the publication of Atwood's essay collection, BURNING QUESTIONS: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004-2021.

Tuesday, March 1st at 9pm ET: Live Talks Los Angeles: Roddy Doyle will be in conversation with Lorrie Moore discussing his new collection of stories, LIFE WITHOUT CHILDREN, a brilliantly warm and witty portrait of our pandemic lives.

This Week's Bonus News:
Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On Commentary for
THE OTHER FAMILY by Wendy Corsi Staub

On Sale the Week of February 21st in Hardcover

February 22nd

BENEATH THE STAIRS by Jennifer Fawcett (Horror)
Few in sleepy Sumner’s Mills have stumbled across the Octagon House hidden deep in the woods. Even fewer are brave enough to trespass. A man had killed his wife and two young daughters there, a shocking, gruesome crime that the sleepy upstate New York town tried to bury. One summer night, an emboldened 14-year-old Clare and her best friend, Abby, ventured into the Octagon House. Clare came out, but a piece of Abby never did. Twenty years later, an adult Clare receives word that Abby has attempted suicide at the Octagon House and now lies in a coma. With little to lose and still grieving after a personal tragedy, Clare returns to her roots to uncover the darkness responsible for Abby’s accident.
Atria Books | 9781982177157

THE BERLIN EXCHANGE by Joseph Kanon (Historical Thriller)
Berlin, 1963. The height of the Cold War. An early morning spy swap is taking place at a discreet border crossing usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade is Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines but then disappeared into the English prison system. Keller’s most critical possession: his American passport. Keller’s most ardent desire: to see his ex-wife, Sabine, and their young son. He has worked for the service long enough to know that nothing happens by chance. They want him for something. Not physics; his expertise is out of date. Something else, which he cannot learn until he arrives in East Berlin, when suddenly the game is afoot.
Scribner | 9781982158651

BLACK CLOUD RISING by David Wright Faladé (Historical Fiction)
By the fall of 1863, Union forces had taken control of Tidewater Virginia and established a toehold in eastern North Carolina. Thousands of freed slaves and runaways flooded the Union lines, but Confederate irregulars still roamed the region. In December, the newly formed African Brigade, a unit of these former slaves led by General Edward Augustus Wild --- a one-armed, impassioned Abolitionist --- set out from Portsmouth to hunt down the rebel guerillas and extinguish the threat. From this little-known historical episode comes BLACK CLOUD RISING, a dramatic, moving account of these soldiers --- men who only weeks earlier had been enslaved, but were now Union infantrymen setting out to fight their former owners.
Grove Press | 9780802159199

BLUE FIRE: A Victoria Emerson Thriller by John Gilstrap (Political Thriller)
They call it Hell Day --- a world war that lasted less than 24 hours. Nations unleashed weapons that destroyed more than a century’s worth of technology. Electrical grids cannot generate power. Communications and computers cannot run. And the remnants of the U.S. government cannot be depended upon. Those who survived must live as their ancestors did, off a land ruled by the whims of nature. One-time congressional representative Victoria Emerson has become the new leader of the small town of Ortho, West Virginia. An autumn morning’s calm is shattered when her teenage son sounds the alarm with the cry “Blue Fire” --- the code phrase for imminent danger. A band of National Guardsmen intends to take Ortho and its resources for themselves.
Kensington | 9781496728579

CARAMEL PECAN ROLL MURDER: A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes! by Joanne Fluke (Mystery)
Embracing a sweet escape from her usual routine at The Cookie Jar, Hannah Swensen gets asked for her help in baking pastries at the local inn for a flashy fishing competition with big prizes and even bigger names. But the fun stops when she spots a runway boat on the water and, on board, the lifeless body of the event’s renowned celebrity spokesperson. Famed TV show host Sonny Bowman wasn’t humble about his ability to reel in winning catches, and no one knew that better than his tragically overworked sidekick, Joey. Did Joey finally take bloody revenge on his pompous boss --- or was Sonny killed by a jealous contestant?
Kensington | 9781496736086

CAROLINA BUILT by Kianna Alexander (Historical Fiction)
Josephine N. Leary is determined to build a life of her own and a future for her family. When she moves to Edenton, North Carolina from the plantation where she was born, she is free, newly married and ready to follow her dreams. As the demands of life pull Josephine’s attention away, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to pursue her real estate aspirations. She finds herself immersed in deepening her marriage, mothering her daughters, and being a dutiful daughter and granddaughter. Still, she manages to teach herself to be a businesswoman, manage her finances and make smart investments in the local real estate market. But with each passing year, it grows more and more difficult to focus on building her legacy from the ground up.
Gallery Books | 9781982163686

COACH K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski by Ian O'Connor (Sports/Biography)
Mike Krzyzewski, known worldwide as “Coach K,” is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewski’s best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, New York Times bestselling author Ian O’Connor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career.
Mariner Books | 9780358345404

CROWN & SCEPTRE: A New History of the British Monarchy, from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II by Tracy Borman (History)
Since William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel in 1066 to defeat King Harold II and unite England’s various kingdoms, 41 kings and queens have sat on Britain’s throne. Ironically, during very few of these 955 years has the throne’s occupant been unambiguously English. Appealing to the intrinsic fascination with British royalty, Tracy Borman lifts the veil to reveal the remarkable characters and personalities who have ruled and, since the Glorious Revolution of 1688, have more ceremonially reigned --- a crucial distinction explaining the staying power of the monarchy as the royal family has evolved and adapted to the needs and opinions of its people, avoiding the storms of rebellion that brought many of Europe’s royals to an abrupt end.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802159106

THE DARK QUEENS: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak (History)
In sixth-century Merovingian France, Brunhild and her sister-in-law, Fredegund, were iron-willed strategists who reigned over vast realms, changing the face of Europe. The two queens commanded armies and negotiated with kings and popes. They formed coalitions and broke them, mothered children and lost them. They fought a decades-long civil war --- against each other. With ingenuity and skill, they battled to stay alive in the game of statecraft, and in the process laid the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagne's empire. Yet after the queens' deaths, their stories were rewritten, their names consigned to slander and legend. In THE DARK QUEENS, Shelley Puhak sets the record straight.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635574913

FAKE by Erica Katz (Thriller)
Emma Caan is a forger, an artist who specializes in 19th-century paintings. But she isn’t a criminal; her copies are commissioned by museums and ultra-wealthy collectors protecting their investments. Emma has more than mastered a Gauguin brushstroke and a van Gogh wheat field, but her work is sometimes a painful reminder of the artistic dreams she once chased for herself. When oligarch art collector Leonard Sobetsky unexpectedly appears with an invitation, Emma sees a way out --- a new job, a new path for herself, and access to the kind of money she needs to support her unstable and recently widowed mother. But every invitation incurs an obligation…and Emma isn’t prepared for what’s to come.
Harper | 9780063082588

THE HARBOR by Katrine Engberg (Literary Thriller/Mystery)
When 15-year-old Oscar Dreyer-Hoff disappears, the police assume he’s simply a runaway. But his frantic family is certain that something terrible has happened. After all, what runaway would leave behind a note that reads: He looked around and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward. He had cleaned it many times, till there was no stain left upon it. It was bright and glistened. As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter’s work, and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free. It’s not much to go on, but it’s all that detectives Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner have. And with every passing hour, as the odds of finding a missing person grow dimmer, it will have to be enough.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982127633

LIFE WITHOUT CHILDREN: Stories by Roddy Doyle (Fiction/Short Stories)
Love and marriage. Children and family. Death and grief. Life touches everyone the same. But living under lockdown, it changes us alone. In these 10 beautifully moving short stories written mostly over the last year, Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle paints a collective portrait of our strange times. A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother’s funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret.
Viking | 9780593300565

THE MARAUDERS: Standing Up to Vigilantes in the American Borderlands by Patrick Strickland (Social Science)
THE MARAUDERS uncovers the riveting nonfiction saga of far-right militias terrorizing the border towns of southern Arizona. In one of the towns profiled, Arivaca, rogue militia members killed a man and his nine-year-old daughter in 2009. In response, the residents organized and spent two years trying to push the new militias out through boycotts and by urging local businesses to ban them. The militias and vigilante groups again raised the stakes, spreading Pizzagate-style conspiracy theories alleging that town residents were complicit in child sex trafficking, prompting fears of vigilante violence. The people targeted by hate groups, and the individuals who rose up to stop them in their tracks, are the heroes of this dramatic story.
Melville House | 9781612199269

NOTHING TO LOSE: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
Years ago, when he was a homicide detective with the Seattle PD, J. P. Beaumont’s partner, Sue Danielson, was murdered. Volatile and angry, Danielson’s ex-husband came after her in her home. With nowhere else to turn, Jared, Sue’s teenage son, frantically called Beau for help. As Beau rushed to the scene, he urged Jared to grab his younger brother and flee the house. In the end, Beau’s plea and Jared’s quick action saved the two boys from their father’s murderous rage. Now, almost 20 years later, Jared reappears in Beau’s life seeking his help once again --- his younger brother, Chris, is missing. Beau encounters a tangled web of family secrets in which a killer with nothing to lose is waiting to take another life.
William Morrow | 9780063010062

THE PARADOX HOTEL by Rob Hart (Technothriller/Mystery)
January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder. Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing is simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past. Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion --- and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls. None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see. On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. The U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology --- and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.
Ballantine Books | 9781984820648

THE PARIS APARTMENT by Lucy Foley (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother, Ben, didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up --- to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? --- he’s not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.
William Morrow | 9780063003057

SCOUNDREL: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman (True Crime)
In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, in prison and sentenced to death for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, struck up a correspondence with William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review. Buckley, who refused to believe that a man who supported the neoconservative movement could have committed such a heinous crime, began to advocate not only for Smith’s life to be spared but also for his sentence to be overturned. So begins a bizarre and tragic tale of mid-century America. Sarah Weinman’s SCOUNDREL leads us through the twists of fate and fortune that brought Smith to freedom, book deals, fame...and eventually to attempting murder again.
Ecco | 9780062899767

THE SILENT SISTERS by Robert Dugoni (Thriller)
After a harrowing escape from Russian agents on his last mission, Charles Jenkins thinks he’s finally done with the spy game. But then the final two of the seven sisters --- American assets who have been deep undercover in Russia for decades --- cut off all communication with their handlers. Are they in hiding after detecting surveillance? Or have they turned and become double agents? It’s Jenkins’ duty to find out, but he’s been added to a Russian kill list. It will require all of Jenkins’ knowledge of spycraft --- and an array of disguises --- to return to the country undetected. But when plans go awry his first night in Moscow, mafia henchmen, Russian agents and a particularly dogged Moscow police detective pursue him.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542029919

THE STONE WORLD by Joel Agee (Historical Fiction)
Joel Agee’s first novel begins in a house with a large garden in an unnamed Mexican town in the late 1940s, where six-and-a-half-year-old Peter reads, dreams and plays with his friends. The world around him is a unique one in history: a community of leftist emigrés who have found refuge in Mexico from the Nazi and fascist regimes of Europe, rubbing shoulders with Mexican labor activists and leftists such as Frida Kahlo. But the emigrés long for home --- including Peter’s stepfather, who wants to return to his native Germany. Going back to Europe may not be safe for any of them yet, however, which gives rise to anguished arguments among Peter’s parents and their tight group of friends.
Melville House | 9781612199542

THE SWIMMERS by Julie Otsuka (Fiction)
The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief. One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps, she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese American incarceration camp in which she spent the war. Alice's estranged daughter, reentering her mother's life too late, witnesses her stark and devastating decline.
Knopf | 9780593321331

THINK OF ME by Frances Liardet (Historical Fiction)
During the perils of World War II in Alexandria, Egypt, two people from different worlds will find their way back to each other time and time again, their love a beacon for their survival. After the war, James and Yvette establish roots in England hoping for a new beginning, until a tragic event drives a wedge between them, and the path back to each other is one they both must be brave enough to face. Decades later, and 10 years after his wife’s death, James moves to the English village of Upton seeking change. When he discovers a scarf that might have been Yvette’s, James begins to unlock revelations about his past that just might return his lost faith to him --- his faith in God, humanity, himself and, perhaps most important of all, love.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593191149

THIS MIGHT HURT by Stephanie Wrobel (Psychological Thriller)
Natalie Collins hasn’t heard from her sister, Kit, in more than half a year. Not since Kit found Wisewood. On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood’s guests commit to six-month stays and are prohibited from contact with the rest of the world so they can focus on achieving true fearlessness. Natalie thinks it’s a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister’s cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid. Six months later, Natalie receives a menacing email from a Wisewood account threatening to reveal the secret she’s been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she’s about to learn that Wisewood won’t let either of them go without a fight.
Berkley | 9780593100080

WHAT MY BONES KNOW: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo (Memoir)
By age 30, Stephanie Foo had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at “This American Life” and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD --- a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. In WHAT MY BONES KNOW, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations.
Ballantine Books | 9780593238103

WHEN I'M GONE, LOOK FOR ME IN THE EAST by Quan Barry (Fiction)
Tasked with finding the reincarnation of a great lama --- a spiritual teacher who may have been born anywhere in the vast Mongolian landscape --- the young monk Chuluun sets out with his identical twin, Mun, who has rejected the monastic life they once shared. Their relationship will be tested on this journey through their homeland as each possesses the ability to hear the other’s thoughts. Quan Barry carries us across a terrain as unforgiving as it is beautiful and culturally varied. As their country stretches before them, questions of faith --- along with more earthly matters of love and brotherhood --- haunt the twins.
Pantheon | 9781524748111

WISH YOU WERE GONE by Kieran Scott (Domestic Thriller)
Emma Walsh has finally worked up the courage to confront her husband, James, about his drinking. But he never shows up to meet her as planned. His body lies crumpled amidst the wreckage of his flashy car, which has been smashed to its final resting place halfway through the back wall of their suburban house’s garage. In the aftermath of the fatal crash, Emma and her teenage children begin to embrace life without James’ looming, volcanic presence. It turns out that her husband’s legacy as an upstanding business owner and family man shines only because so many people, for so long, were so willing to keep his secrets --- secrets that twist into new and unexpected shapes as the mysterious details of his last day of life begin to come to light.
Gallery Books | 9781982153984

On Sale the Week of February 21st in Paperback

February 22nd

THE AGITATORS: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights by Dorothy Wickenden (History)
Harriet Tubman --- no-nonsense, funny, uncannily prescient and strategically brilliant --- was one of the most important conductors on the underground railroad and hid the enslaved men, women and children she rescued in the basement kitchens of Martha Wright, Quaker mother of seven, and Frances Seward, wife of Governor, then Senator, then Secretary of State William H. Seward. Beginning two decades before the Civil War, when Tubman was still enslaved and Martha and Frances were young women bound by law and tradition, THE AGITATORS ends two decades after the war, in a radically changed United States.
Scribner | 9781476760742

ALL GIRLS by Emily Layden (Mystery)
ALL GIRLS follows nine young women as they navigate their ambitions and fears at a prestigious New England prep school, all pitched against the backdrop of a scandal the administration wants silenced. But as the months unfold, and the school's efforts to control the ensuing crisis fall short, these extraordinary girls are forced to discover their voices, and their power.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250751126

ANIMAL INSTINCT: A K Team Novel by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, a German shepherd named Simon Garfunkel, are recently retired police officers turned private investigators. Along with fellow former cop Laurie Collins and her investigating partner, Marcus, they call themselves the K Team. Their latest case gives Corey a chance to solve "the one that got away." Corey knew the murder victim from his time on the force, when he was unable to protect her in a domestic dispute. Now, he is convinced the same abusive boyfriend is responsible for her murder. With some help from Laurie’s lawyer husband, Andy Carpenter, the K Team is determined to prove what the police could not. What they uncover is much more sinister than they could have imagined.
Minotaur Books | 9781250829429

CALL ME A CAB by Donald E. Westlake (Romantic Suspense)
Paperback Original
In 1977, Donald E. Westlake turned his pen to suspense of a very different sort --- and the results have never been published…until now. A New York City taxi driver is hired to drive a beautiful woman all the way across America, from Manhattan to Los Angeles, where the biggest decision of her life is waiting to be made. From Pennsylvania to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada on the way to California, the characters’ odyssey takes them through uncharted territory --- on the map and in their lives.
Hard Case Crime | 9781789098181

THE CELLIST by Daniel Silva (Thriller/Adventure)
Once Russia’s richest man, Viktor Orlov now resides in splendid exile in London, where he has waged a tireless crusade against the authoritarian kleptocrats who have seized control of the Kremlin. Yet somehow, in the midst of a global pandemic, Russia’s vengeful president finally manages to cross Orlov’s name off his kill list. Gabriel Allon owes his very life to Viktor Orlov, and his desperate search for the truth eventually will take him to Geneva, where a private intelligence service controlled by a childhood friend of the Russian president is using KGB-style “active measures” to undermine the West from within. Known as the Haydn Group, the unit is plotting an unspeakable act of violence that will plunge an already divided America into chaos and leave Russia unchallenged.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062834973

DOUBLE JEOPARDY: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Stone Barrington is settling in for a stretch in New York when he receives news that demands immediate action. An old family matter has unexpectedly resurfaced, and Stone must decamp to the craggy shores of Maine to address the issue head-on. There, Stone finds that a dual-pronged threat is hiding in plain sight among the stately houses and exclusive coastal clubs, and the incursion isn't easily rebuffed. These enemies have friends in high places, funds to spare, and a score to settle with Stone...and only the cleverest plot will draw them out into the open. From luxuriously renovated homes to the choppy ocean waters, the pursuit can only lead to an explosive end.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593188392

GEOGRAPHY OF AN ADULTERY written by Agnès Riva, translated by John Cullen (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Ema and Paul are lovers. Like so many others before them, they met through work. Both are married with children, and they arrange hurried meetings away from prying eyes --- Paul’s car, a corner of Ema’s house, a hotel room. But their relationship soon suffers from this too-restricted sphere, and Ema decides to put them both in danger, at the risk of losing everything.
Other Press | 9781590511107

A HISTORY OF WHAT COMES NEXT: A Take Them to the Stars Novel by Sylvain Neuvel (Historical Thriller/Science Fiction)
For generations, Mia’s family has shaped human history to push them to the stars. The year is 1945, and now it is her turn. Her mission: to lure scientist Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, securing the future of the space race. But there is a threat. A ruthless enemy lurks behind the scenes. Sylvain Neuvel’s genre-bending sci-fi thriller is a dark and gripping exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence, as seen through the eyes of the women who make that progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them.
Tordotcom | 9781250262097

THE HUNTING WIVES by May Cobb (Psychological Thriller)
Sophie O'Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and the stressful, competitive life of big-city Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. There she meets Margot Banks, an alluring socialite who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Sophie finds herself completely drawn to Margot and swept into her mysterious world of late-night target practice and dangerous partying. As Sophie's curiosity gives way to full-blown obsession, she slips farther away from the safety of her family and deeper into this nest of vipers. When the body of a teenage girl is discovered in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.
Berkley | 9780593101148

I AM A GIRL FROM AFRICA: A Memoir of Empowerment, Community, and Hope by Elizabeth Nyamayaro (Memoir)
When a severe drought hit her village in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth, then eight, had no idea that this moment of utter devastation would come to define her life purpose. Unable to move from hunger, she encountered a United Nations aid worker who gave her a bowl of warm porridge and saved her life. This transformative moment inspired Elizabeth to become a humanitarian, and she vowed to dedicate her life to giving back to her community, her continent and the world. Grounded by the African concept of ubuntu --- “I am because we are” --- I AM A GIRL FROM AFRICA charts Elizabeth’s quest in pursuit of her dream from the small village of Goromonzi to Harare, London, New York and beyond.
Scribner | 9781982113025

INSIDE STORY by Martin Amis (Fiction)
Martin Amis’ most intimate and epic work yet had its birth in the death of his closest friend, Christopher Hitchens, and it is within that profound and sprawling friendship that this autobiographical novel unfurls. Hitch was Amis’ wingman and adviser from their early days as young magazine staffers in London through years of literary gossip, romantic entanglements and unsettling obsessions. As INSIDE STORY traces other significant influences in Amis’ life --- including his father, Kingsley Amis; his hero, Saul Bellow; the poet Philip Larkin; and the writers Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Jane Howard --- it evolves into a tender, witty exploration of the hardest questions: how to live, how to grieve and how to die. The result is a love letter to life that opens up a previously unseen portrait of a writer’s extraordinary world.
Vintage | 9780593311714

THE KITCHEN FRONT by Jennifer Ryan (Historical Fiction)
Two years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses: The Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called “The Kitchen Front” is holding a cooking contest --- and the grand prize is a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the competition would present a crucial chance to change their lives. They are giving it their all --- even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together only serve to break it apart?
Ballantine Books | 9780593158814

THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD by T. L. Huchu (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl has to earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone is bewitching children --- leaving them husks, empty of joy and strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world. Ropa will dice with death as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. And although underground Edinburgh hides a wealth of dark secrets, she also discovers an occult library, a magical mentor and some unexpected allies. Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?
Tor Books | 9781250767783

THE LOST APOTHECARY by Sarah Penner (Historical Fiction)
Hidden in the depths of 18th-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella, who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious 12-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries. Meanwhile, in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her 10th wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London 200 years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate --- and not everyone will survive.
Park Row | 9780778311973

THE LOST VILLAGE written by Camilla Sten, translated by Alexandra Fleming (Mystery/Thriller)
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy. Ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left --- a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn --- have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened. Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice: They are not alone.
Minotaur Books | 9781250803290

LOVE IN THE TIME OF BERTIE: A 44 Scotland Street Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In the microcosm of 44 Scotland Street, all of life’s richness is found in the glorious goings-on of its residents. There’s Domenica, whose anthropological training has honed her observations of her neighbors; Matthew, whose growing triplets are more than a handful; Bruce, whose challenge as ever is thinking of anything but himself; and Big Lou, who may just have found her shot at romance. And of course, there’s young Bertie Pollock, whose starry-eyed explorations of Edinburgh’s New Town are a touching reminder that life itself is an adventure and there’s joy to be found wherever you choose to look.
Anchor | 9780593468449

MADHOUSE AT THE END OF THE EARTH: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton (History)
In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of costly setbacks, the commandant faced two bad options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter, or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters. De Gerlache sailed on, and soon the Belgica was stuck fast in the icy hold of the Bellingshausen Sea. The ship’s occupants were plagued by a mysterious illness and descended into madness. In this epic tale, Julian Sancton unfolds a story of adventure and horror for the ages.
Crown | 9781984824349

MASTER OF THE REVELS: A Return to Neal Stephenson's D.O.D.O. by Nicole Galland (Science Fiction/Thriller)
MASTER OF THE REVELS picks up where THE RISE AND FALL OF D.O.D.O. left off, as Tristan Lyons, Mel Stokes and their fellow outcasts from the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.) fight to stop the powerful Irish witch Gráinne from using time travel to reverse the evolution of all modern technology. Chief amongst Gráinne’s plots: to encrypt cataclysmic spells into Shakespeare’s “cursed” play, “Macbeth.” When her fellow rogue agents fall victim to Gráinne’s schemes, Mel is forced to send Tristan’s untested, wayward sister Robin back in time to 1606 London, where Edmund Tilney, the king’s Master of Revels, controls all staged performances in London. And now Gráinne controls Tilney.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062844880

A MILLION REASONS WHY by Jessica Strawser (Fiction)
Caroline lives a full, happy life --- a thriving career, three feisty children, an enviable marriage, and a close-knit extended family. However, she is about to discover that her fundamental beliefs about them all are wrong. Sela lives a life in shades of gray, suffering from irreversible kidney failure. Her marriage crumbled in the wake of her illness. Her beloved mother, always her closest friend, unexpectedly passed away. She refuses to be defined by her grief, but still, she worries what will happen to her two-year-old son if she doesn’t find a donor match in time. She’s the only one who knows Caroline is her half-sister and may also be her best hope for a future. But Sela’s world isn’t as clear-cut as it appears --- and one misstep could destroy it all.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250620484

OUR TEAM: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball by Luke Epplin (Sports/History)
OUR TEAM traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy.
Flatiron Books | 9781250266316

THE OUTSIDE MAN: A Matt Drake Novel by Don Bentley (Political Thriller)
Broad daylight on an Austin, Texas, street, and DIA operative Matt Drake is fighting for his life against a highly trained team of assassins. Who are they? Why do they want him dead? How will he protect those closest to him? The answers will take him into some of the most dangerous spots in the Middle East and will put him in the clutches of an old foe known simply as the Devil. It's a world of double crosses, with no boundaries between the guilty and the innocent. It will take all of Drake's wiles to get out alive.
Berkley | 9781984805157

QUARRY’S BLOOD by Max Allan Collins (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Paperback Original
The professional hitman known as Quarry --- star of the Cinemax TV miniseries of the same name --- has put killing behind him. But after a beautiful writer of true-crime bestsellers drops by to announce he's the subject of her next book, killers descend to give him some of his own deadly medicine, forcing Quarry to journey into his bloody past to find the answers --- and settle old scores. QUARRY’S BLOOD brings the hitman’s decades-long saga right up to the present day as MWA Grand Master Max Allan Collins explores the startling final act of Quarry’s professional career.
Hard Case Crime | 9781789096682

RED ISLAND HOUSE by Andrea Lee (Fiction)
When Shay, an intrepid Black American professor, marries Senna, a brash Italian businessman, she doesn’t imagine that her life’s greatest adventure will carry her far beyond their home in Milan: to an idyllic stretch of beach in Madagascar, where Senna builds a flamboyant vacation villa. Before she knows it, she becomes the reluctant mistress of a sprawling household, caught between her privileged American upbringing and her connection to the continent of her ancestors. So begins Shay’s journey into the heart of a remote African country. Can she keep her identity and her marriage intact amid the wild beauty and the lingering colonial sins of this mysterious world that both captivates and destroys foreigners?
Scribner | 9781982138189

THE SCHOOL OF MIRRORS by Eva Stachniak (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
During the reign of Louis XV, impoverished but lovely teenage girls from all over France are sent to a discreet villa in the town of Versailles. Overseen by the King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour, they will be trained as potential courtesans for the King. When the time is right, each girl is smuggled into the palace of Versailles, with its legendary Hall of Mirrors. There they meet a mysterious but splendidly dressed man who they’re told is merely a Polish count, a cousin of the Queen. Living an indulgent life of silk gowns, delicious meals and soft beds, the students at this “school of mirrors” rarely ask questions, and when Louis tires of them, they are married off to minor aristocrats or allowed to retire to one of the more luxurious nunneries.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063119604

SOOLEY by John Grisham (Fiction)
In the summer of his 17th year, Samuel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basketball tournament. However, a civil war is raging across South Sudan; while he is away, rebel troops ransack his village. His father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp. Partly out of sympathy, the coach of North Carolina Central offers him a scholarship. He moves to Durham, enrolls in classes, joins the team, and prepares to sit out his freshman season. But Samuel has something no other player has: a fierce determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America.
Anchor | 9780593359525

TOGETHER WE WILL GO by J. Michael Straczynski (Fiction)
Mark Antonelli, a failed young writer looking down the barrel at 30, is planning a cross-country road trip. He buys a beat-up old tour bus. He hires a young army vet to drive it. He puts out an ad for others to join him along the way. But this will be a road trip like no other: His passengers are all fellow disheartened souls who have decided that this will be their final journey. Upon arrival in San Francisco, they will find a cliff with an amazing view of the ocean at sunset, hit the gas and drive out of this world. We get to know them through access to their texts, emails, voicemails and the daily journal entries they write as the price of admission for this trip.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982142599

THE UPSTAIRS HOUSE by Julia Fine (Fiction)
Megan is mostly raising her newborn alone while her husband travels for work. She is wracked with guilt over her unfinished dissertation --- a thesis on mid-century children’s literature. Enter a new upstairs neighbor: the ghost of Margaret Wise Brown --- author of the beloved classic GOODNIGHT MOON --- whose existence no one else will acknowledge. It seems Margaret has unfinished business with her former lover, the once-famous socialite and actress Michael Strange, and is determined to draw Megan into the fray. As Michael joins the haunting, Megan finds herself caught in the wake of a supernatural power struggle --- and until she can find a way to quiet these spirits, she and her newborn daughter are in terrible danger.
Harper Perennial | 9780062975836

THE VERIFIERS by Jane Pek (Literary Mystery)
Paperback Original
Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls --- and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency. A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate --- and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit.
Vintage | 9780593313794

VORTEX: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
Seven years ago, Mia Briscoe was at a college frat rave with her best friend, Serena, when a fire broke out. Everyone was accounted for except Serena, who was never seen or heard from again. Now an investigative journalist covering the political scene in New York City, Mia discovers old photos taken the night of Serena’s disappearance and begins to uncover a sinister string of events going all the way back to that disastrous party. Working with Sherlock, the secrets begin to unravel. But some very powerful --- and very dangerous --- people will do anything to keep them from learning the truth.
William Morrow | 9780063019959

THE WOMAN THEY COULD NOT SILENCE: The Shocking Story of a Woman Who Dared to Fight Back by Kate Moore (Biography)
1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard is facing her own battle. Her husband of 21 years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened --- by Elizabeth's intellect, independence and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. One summer morning, Theophilus has her committed to an insane asylum. The conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are horrific, and there are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line. No one is willing to fight for their freedom, and they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose.
Sourcebooks | 9781728242576

On Sale the Week of February 28th in Hardcover

March 1st

ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN by SJ Bennett (Mystery)
At Buckingham Palace, the autumn of 2016 presages uncertain times. The Queen must deal with the fallout from the Brexit referendum, a new female prime minister, and a tumultuous election in the United States --- yet these prove to be the least of her worries when a staff member is found dead beside the palace swimming pool. Is it truly the result of a tragic accident, as the police think, or is something more sinister going on? Meanwhile, her assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, is on the trail of a favorite painting that once hung outside the Queen’s bedroom and appears to have been misappropriated by the Royal Navy. And a series of disturbing anonymous letters have begun circulating in the palace.
William Morrow | 9780063051140

THE ATLAS SIX by Olivie Blake (Dark Fantasy)
The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation. When the latest round of candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation. Five will be initiated; one will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will. Most of them.
Tor Books | 9781250854513

BURNING QUESTIONS: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021 by Margaret Atwood (Essays)
In more than 60 pieces, Margaret Atwood aims her prodigious intellect and impish humor at the world, and reports back to us on what she finds. This rollercoaster period brought the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola, we have no better guide to the many and varied mysteries of our universe.
Doubleday | 9780385547482

CHECKOUT 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett (Fiction)
In a working-class town in a county west of London, a schoolgirl scribbles stories in the back pages of her exercise book, intoxicated by the first sparks of her imagination. As she grows, everything and everyone she encounters become fuel for a burning talent. The large Russian man in the ancient maroon car who careens around the grocery store where she works as a checkout clerk, and slips her a copy of BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL. The growing heaps of other books in which she loses --- and finds --- herself. Even the derailing of a friendship, in a devastating violation. The thrill of learning to conjure characters and scenarios in her head is matched by the exhilaration of forging her own way in the world.
Riverhead Books | 9780593420492

CHORUS by Rebecca Kauffman (Historical Fiction)
The seven Shaw siblings have long been haunted by two early and profoundly consequential events. Told in turns from the early 20th century through the 1950s, each sibling relays their own version of the memories that surround both their mother’s mysterious death and the circumstances of one sister’s scandalous teenage pregnancy. As they move into adulthood, the siblings assume new roles: caretaker to their aging father, addict, enabler, academic, decorated veteran, widow, and mothers and fathers to the next generation. Entangled in a family knot, the Shaw siblings face divorce, drama and death while haunted by a mother who was never truly there.
Counterpoint | 9781640095182

THE CLUB by Ellery Lloyd (Mystery/Thriller)
The Home Group is a glamorous collection of celebrity members' clubs dotted across the globe, where the rich and famous can party hard and then crash out in its five-star suites. The most spectacular of all is Island Home, a closely guarded, ultraluxurious resort just off the English coast. But behind the scenes, tensions are at a breaking point: the ambitious and expensive project has pushed the Home Group's CEO and his long-suffering team to their absolute limits. All of them have something to hide --- and that's before the beautiful people with their own ugly secrets even set foot on the island. As tempers fray and behavior worsens, as things get more sinister by the hour and the body count piles up, some of Island Home’s members will begin to wish they’d never made the guest list.
Harper | 9780062997425

THE FELL by Sarah Moss (Fiction)
At dusk on a November evening, a woman slips through her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of a two-week mandatory quarantine period, a true lockdown, but she can’t take it anymore --- the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know she’s stepped out. Kate planned only a quick walk --- a stretch of the legs, a breath of fresh air --- on paths she knows too well. But somehow she falls. Injured and unable to move, she sees that her short, furtive stroll will become a mountain rescue operation, maybe even a missing person case.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374606046

GIRL IN ICE by Erica Ferencik (Thriller)
Valerie “Val” Chesterfield is a linguist trained in the most esoteric of disciplines: dead Nordic languages. Despite her successful career, she leads a sheltered life and languishes in the shadow of her twin brother, Andy, an accomplished climate scientist stationed on a remote island off Greenland’s barren coast. But Andy is gone: a victim of suicide, having willfully ventured unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather. Val suspects foul play. When Wyatt, Andy’s fellow researcher in the Arctic, discovers a scientific impossibility --- a young girl frozen in the ice who thaws out alive, speaking a language no one understands --- Val is his first call. Under the auspices of helping Wyatt interpret the girl’s speech, Val journeys to the Arctic to solve the mystery of her brother’s death.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982143022

GROUNDSKEEPING by Lee Cole (Fiction)
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Owen Callahan, an aspiring writer, moves back to Kentucky to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Eager to clean up his act after wasting time and potential in his early 20s, he takes a job as a groundskeeper at a small local college, in exchange for which he is permitted to take a writing course. Here he meets Alma Hazdic, a writer in residence who seems to have everything that Owen lacks --- a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma --- who comes from a liberal family of Bosnian immigrants --- struggles to understand Owen’s fraught relationship with family and home.
Knopf | 9780593320501

I WAS BETTER LAST NIGHT: A Memoir by Harvey Fierstein (Memoir)
Harvey Fierstein’s legendary career has transported him from community theater in Brooklyn, to the lights of Broadway, to the absurd excesses of Hollywood and back. He’s received accolades and awards for acting in and/or writing an incredible string of hit plays, films and TV shows: "Hairspray," "Fiddler on the Roof," Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, "Cheers," "La Cage Aux Folles," "Torch Song Trilogy," "Newsies" and "Kinky Boots." While he has never shied away from the spotlight, Mr. Fierstein says that even those closest to him have never heard most of the tales --- of personal struggles and conflict, of sex and romance, of his fabled career --- revealed in these wildly entertaining pages.
Knopf | 9780593320525

LISTENING STILL by Anne Griffin (Fiction)
Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the recently dead and give voice to their final wishes and revelations. Inherited from her father, this gift has enabled the family undertakers to flourish in their small Irish town. Yet she has always been uneasy about censoring some of the dead's last messages to the living. She also is unsure about the choice she made when she left school 17 years ago: to stay or leave for a new life in London with her charismatic teenage sweetheart. So when Jeanie's parents unexpectedly announce their plan to retire, she is jolted out of her limbo.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250200617

THE LOVE OF MY LIFE by Rosie Walsh (Mystery/Thriller)
Emma loves her husband, Leo, and their young daughter, Ruby. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie. And she might just have gotten away with it if it weren’t for her husband’s job. Leo is an obituary writer; Emma is a well-known marine biologist. When she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he knows best --- researching and writing about his wife’s life. But as he starts to unravel the truth, he discovers the woman he loves doesn’t really exist. Even her name isn’t real. When the very darkest moments of Emma’s past finally emerge, she must somehow prove to Leo that she really is the woman he always thought she was. But first, she must tell him about the other love of her life.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593296998

NEVER SIMPLE: A Memoir by Liz Scheier (Memoir)
On an uneventful afternoon when Liz Scheier was 18, her mother, Judith, sauntered into the room to tell her two important things: one, she had been married for most of Scheier’s life to a man she’d never heard of, and two, the man she’d told Scheier was her father was entirely fictional. It took dozens of smaller lies to support them, and by the time she was done, she had built a farcical, half-true life for the two of them. Twenty years later, Scheier receives a voicemail from Adult Protective Services, reporting that Judith has stopped paying rent and is refusing all offers of assistance. That call is the start of a shocking journey that takes Liz and Judith deep into the cascading effects of decades of lies and deception.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250823137

THE NIGHT SHIFT by Alex Finlay (Thriller)
On New Year’s Eve 1999, four teenagers working late at a Blockbuster Video in New Jersey are attacked. Only one inexplicably survives. Police quickly identify a suspect, the boyfriend of one of the victims, who flees and is never seen again. Fifteen years later, more teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive. In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre, who’s forced to relive the horrors of her tragedy; the brother of the fugitive accused, who’s convinced the police have the wrong suspect; and FBI agent Sarah Keller, who must delve into the secrets of both nights to uncover the truth about murders on the night shift.
Minotaur Books | 9781250268884

ON A NIGHT OF A THOUSAND STARS by Andrea Yaryura Clark (Fiction)
New York, 1998. Santiago Larrea, a wealthy Argentine diplomat, is holding court alongside his wife, Lila, and their daughter, Paloma, a college student and budding jewelry designer, at their annual summer polo match and soiree. All seems perfect in the Larreas’ world --- until an unexpected party guest from Santiago's university days shakes his usually unflappable demeanor. The woman's cryptic comments spark Paloma’s curiosity about her father’s past, of which she knows little. When the family travels to Buenos Aires for Santiago's UN ambassadorial appointment, Paloma is determined to learn more about his life in the years leading up to the military dictatorship of 1976.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538720295

ONE ITALIAN SUMMER by Rebecca Serle (Fiction)
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone. But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. And then Carol appears --- in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned and 30 years old. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. Soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young lady who does not yet have a clue.
Atria Books | 9781982166793

SUNDIAL by Catriona Ward (Gothic Horror/Psychological Thriller)
All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind. She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice. Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive. The mother and daughter embark on a dark, desert journey to the past in the hopes of redeeming their future.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250812681

TELL ME AN ENDING by Jo Harkin (Dystopian/Science Fiction)
TELL ME AN ENDING follows four characters grappling with the question of what to remember --- and what they hoped to forget forever. Finn, an Irish architect living in the Arizona desert, begins to suspect his charming wife of having an affair. Mei, a troubled grad school dropout in Kuala Lumpur, wonders why she remembers a city she’s never visited. William, a former police inspector in England, struggles with PTSD, the breakdown of his marriage and his own secret family history. Oscar, a handsome young man with almost no memories at all, travels the world in a constant state of fear. Into these characters' lives comes Noor, an emotionally closed-off psychologist at the memory removal clinic in London, who begins to suspect her glamorous boss Louise of serious wrongdoing.
Scribner | 9781982164324

THE TOBACCO WIVES by Adele Myers (Historical Fiction)
Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who has just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina --- the tobacco capital of the South --- where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes and, most of all, her aunt’s glossiest clientele: the wives of the powerful tobacco executives. But she soon learns that a trail of misfortune follows many of the women, including substantial health problems. Although Maddie is quick to believe that this is a coincidence, she inadvertently uncovers evidence that suggests otherwise.
William Morrow | 9780063082939

THE UNSINKABLE GRETA JAMES by Jennifer E. Smith (Fiction)
Right after the sudden death of her mother and just before the launch of her high-stakes sophomore album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing, her career suddenly in jeopardy --- the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always predicted. Months later, Greta reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their 40th anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian, onboard to lecture about THE CALL OF THE WILD, who is struggling with a major upheaval in his own life.
Ballantine Books | 9780593358276

THE WAY FROM HERE by Jane Cockram (Fiction)
Growing up, the Anderson sisters could not have been more different. Susie had an adventurous life, while Camilla --- Mills --- followed a safer path. When Susie suddenly dies, Mills falls apart. Until she receives a bundle of mysterious letters from her estranged sister to be read in the case of her death. Each letter instructs her to visit a place special to Susie, both to spread her ashes but also to uncover some truths Susie has long kept hidden from her family. Their mother Margaret has secrets of her own. When living in Swinging Sixties London, she too made a decision about her life that not only haunts her, but will reverberate through the generations. One family, three very different women. What choices and secrets connect them?
Harper | 9780062939326

WILD IRISH ROSE: A Molly Murphy Mystery by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles (Historical Mystery)
Now that she’s no longer a private detective, Molly Murphy Sullivan is looking forward to a time of settled tranquility with friends and family. Back in New York, where her own story began, Molly decides to accompany some friends to Ellis Island to help distribute clothing to those in need. This journey quickly stirs up memories for Molly. That evening, her policeman husband, Daniel, comes home with a tale to tell: there was a murder on Ellis Island that day, and the main suspect is the spitting image of Molly. The circumstances are eerily similar to when Molly herself arrived on Ellis Island, and she can’t help but feel a sense of fate. Molly was meant to be there that day so that she can clear this woman’s name.
Minotaur Books | 9781250808059

THE WONDERS written by Elena Medel, translated by Lizzie Davis and Thomas Bunstead (Fiction)
Maria moved to Madrid in 1969, leaving her daughter with her family but hoping to save enough to take care of her one day. She worked as a housekeeper, then a caregiver and later a cleaner, and somehow she was always taking care of someone else. Two generations later, in 2018, Alicia was working at the snack shop in Madrid’s Atocha train station when it overflowed with protestors and strikers. All women --- and so many of them --- protesting what? Alicia wasn’t entirely sure. She couldn’t have known that Maria was among them. Alicia didn’t have time for marches; she was just trying to hang on until the end of her shift, when she might meet someone to take her away for a few hours, to make her forget.
Algonquin Books | 9781643752112

On Sale the Week of February 28th in Paperback

March 1st

ANTIQUITIES AND OTHER STORIES by Cynthia Ozick (Fiction/Short Stories)
In ANTIQUITIES, Lloyd Wilkinson Petrie, one of the seven elderly trustees of the now-defunct (for 34 years) Temple Academy for Boys, is preparing a memoir of his days at the school, intertwined with the troubling distractions of present events. As he navigates, with faltering recall, between the subtle anti-Semitism that pervaded the school's ethos and his fascination with his own family's heritage, he reconstructs the passions of a childhood encounter with the oddly named Ben-Zion Elefantin, a mystifying older pupil who claims descent from Egypt's Elephantine Island. Included alongside this wondrous tale are four additional stories weaving myth and mania, history and illusion: "The Coast of New Zealand," "The Bloodline of the Alkanas," "Sin" and "A Hebrew Sibyl."
Vintage | 9780593312766

ARTIFACT by Arlene Heyman (Fiction)
Born in Michigan in the early 1940s to a taciturn mother and embittered father, Lottie Kristin is independent from the start, fascinated with the mysteries of nature and the human body. By age 16, she and her sweetheart, cheerful high school sports hero Charlie Hart, have been through a devastatingly traumatic pregnancy. When an injury ends Charlie's football career four years later, the two move to Texas hoping for a fresh start. There, torn between the vitality of the antiwar movement and her family's traditional values, Lottie discovers the joys of motherhood, and reconnects with her interest in biology and experimentation, taking a job as a lab technician. While Charlie's depression pervades their home, Lottie's instinct is toward life.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635578256

BAND OF SISTERS by Lauren Willig (Historical Fiction)
A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith College’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend, Emmeline Van Alden, reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit. Four months later, Kate and 17 other Smithies set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies and good intentions --- all of which immediately go astray.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062986160

THE BEAUTY OF LIVING TWICE by Sharon Stone (Memoir)
Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune and global fame. In THE BEAUTY OF LIVING TWICE, Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life and writes about her slow road back to wholeness and health. In a business that doesn’t accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, she found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of men, women and children around the globe. Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments and her greatest accomplishments.
Vintage | 9780525567264

BY ANY OTHER NAME by Lauren Kate (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
With a successful career as a romance editor, and an engagement to a man who checks off all 99 boxes on her carefully curated list, Lanie is more than good. She's killing it. Then she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to work with world-renowned author and her biggest inspiration in love and life --- the Noa Callaway. All Lanie has to do is cure Noa's writer's block and she'll get the promotion she's always dreamed of. Simple, right? But there's a reason no one has ever seen or spoken to the mysterious Noa Calloway. And that reason will rock Lanie’s world. It will call into question everything she thought she knew.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212541

THE DAY HE LEFT: A Violent Crime Investigations Team Mystery by Frederick Weisel (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Annie has fallen out of the habit of listening to her husband. She and Paul have been married for a long time; it's easy to nod as he drones on. That becomes a problem, of course, when Paul disappears and the police have questions. Was Paul having issues at work? Is there any reason to think he might harm himself? Annie doesn't know. But someone does. An unsettling photo found amongst Paul's things turns the investigation toward his job as a middle school teacher and a troubled girl who is hiding secrets of her own. But what exactly happened to Paul on the day he left for work and never made it to the classroom? Is his disappearance related to a local heroin trafficking operation?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464214219

ENCHANTING THE HEIRESS: Hearts on the Heath, Book 3 by Kristi Ann Hunter (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
Miss Harriet Hancock enjoys playing the role of eccentric heiress, using her wealth and influence to cleverly and anonymously better the lives of those in Newmarket. Though she keeps people at a distance to protect a years-old secret, when her friend pleads for help on a personal project, Harriet can't resist. Stable hand Jonas Fitzroy would do anything for his twin sister, even if it means seeking out the woman whose meddling ways have made him wary and suspicious. The last thing he expects is for Miss Hancock to request his help in writing a book. Intent on revealing her underlying plan, Jonas agrees. As they work together, an unexpected friendship forms. But when things for once don't go according to Harriet's plan, she's left wondering if good intentions might not be enough.
Bethany House Publishers | 9780764235276

THE GOOD SISTER by Sally Hepworth (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister, Rose, three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life, and disrupting her routine can be...dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple. Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250120960

THE HEIGHTS by Louise Candlish (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among warehouses in London. Its roof terrace is so discreet, you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren’t standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that’s when you see a man up there --- a man you’d recognize anywhere. He may be older now, but it’s definitely him. But that can’t be because he’s been dead for over two years. You know this for a fact. Because you’re the one who killed him.
Atria Books | 9781982174125

HOSTAGE by Clare Mackintosh (Psychological Thriller)
Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems with her five-year-old daughter back home or the fissures in her marriage. But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination: "The following instructions will save your daughter's life..." Someone needs Mina's assistance and knows exactly how to make her comply. When one passenger is killed and then another, Mina knows she must act. But which lives does she save: Her passengers...or her own daughter and husband who are in grave distress back at home?
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728250502

KLARA AND THE SUN by Kazuo Ishiguro (Science Fiction)
KLARA AND THE SUN, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. The book offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator and explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?
Vintage | 9780593311295

THE LIGHTS OF SUGARBERRY COVE by Heather Webber (Fiction)
Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family. But despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night Sadie almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted. So why is she so unhappy? When their mother suffers a minor heart attack, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. With a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, they may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past and rediscover a little lake magic.
Forge Books | 9781250774644

THE LOWERING DAYS by Gregory Brown (Fiction)
Growing up, David Almerin Ames and his brothers, Link and Simon, believed the wild patch of Maine where they lived along the Penobscot River belonged to them. Their affinity for the natural world derives from their iconoclastic parents: Arnoux, a romantic artist and Vietnam War deserter who builds boats by hand, and Falon, an activist journalist who runs The Lowering Days, a community newspaper that gives equal voice to indigenous and white issues. But the boys’ childhood reverie is shattered when a bankrupt paper mill is burned to the ground on the eve of potentially reopening. As the community grapples with the scope of the devastation, Falon receives a letter from a Penobscot teenager confessing to the crime --- an act of justice for a sacred river under centuries of assault.
Harper Perennial | 9780062994141

MR. WRONG NUMBER by Lynn Painter (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Bad luck has always followed Olivia Marshall...or maybe she's just the screw-up her family thinks she is. But when a "What are you wearing?" text from a random wrong number turns into the hottest, most entertaining --- albeit anonymous --- relationship of her life, she thinks things might be on the upswing. Colin Beck has always considered Olivia his best friend's annoying little sister, but when she moves in with them after one of her worst runs of luck, he realizes she's turned into an altogether different and sexier distraction. He's sure he can keep his distance, until the moment he discovers she's the irresistible Miss Misdial he's been sort of sexting for weeks --- and now he has to decide whether to turn the heat up or ghost her before things get messy.
Berkley | 9780593437261

NO ACCIDENT: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When a driver slams his pickup truck into a tandem bike being ridden by Carlos Guzman and his fiancée, Tasha, it's more than a simple hit-and-run; the driver clearly intended to harm them. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman gets the call with the news of her son's accident and wastes no time racing to his side. While Carlos struggles with critical injuries, an employee at the bike shop where Carlos bought the tandem is found shot dead in a dumpster --- the same man who had borrowed the truck that mowed down Carlos and Tasha. Not a believer in coincidence, Estelle pursues every possible angle with a cop's determination to solve the case, and a mother's resolve to keep her son safe at any cost.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464215124

PALACE OF THE DROWNED by Christine Mangan (Literary/Psychological Thriller)
It’s 1966, and Frankie Croy retreats to her friend’s vacant palazzo in Venice. Years have passed since the initial success of Frankie’s debut novel, and she has spent her career trying to live up to the expectations. Now, after a particularly scathing review of her most recent work, she needs to recharge and get re-inspired. Then Gilly appears. A precocious young admirer eager to make friends, Gilly seems determined to insinuate herself into Frankie’s solitary life. But there’s something about the young woman that gives Frankie pause. How much of what Gilly tells her is the truth? As a series of lies and revelations emerge, the lives of these two women will be tragically altered as the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice ravages the city.
Flatiron Books | 9781250788436

THE PARIS LIBRARY by Janet Skeslien Charles (Historical Fiction)
Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal. Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.
Atria Books | 9781982134204

THE PRINCESS SPY: The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones by Larry Loftis (Biography)
As the US enters the Second World War, college graduate Aline Griffith is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes. Aline’s life changes when, at a dinner party, she meets a man named Frank Ryan and reveals how desperately she wants to do her part for her country. Within a few weeks, he helps her join the Office of Strategic Services --- forerunner of the CIA. With a code name and expert training under her belt, she is sent to Spain to be a coder, but is soon given the additional assignment of infiltrating the upper echelons of society, mingling with high-ranking officials, diplomats and titled Europeans, any of whom could be an enemy agent.
Atria Books | 9781982143879

RED WIDOW by Alma Katsu (Thriller)
Lyndsey Duncan, cast down and restless from a required home leave, has one thing keeping her going --- a second chance to prove herself at the agency. So when her former boss --- now Chief of the Russia Division, where Lyndsey was once a top handler in the Moscow Field Station --- recruits her to investigate a potential mole in the department after the exposure of three Russian assets, Lyndsey finds herself entrenched once again in fickle fields. Meanwhile, fellow agent Theresa Warner can't avoid the spotlight. She is the infamous "Red Widow," the wife of a former director mysteriously killed in the field. As Lyndsey uncovers a surprising connection to Theresa that could answer all of her questions, she unearths a terrifying web of secrets within the department, if only she is willing to unravel it.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525539421

THE SCAPEGOAT by Sara Davis (Literary Mystery)
N is employed at a prestigious California university, where he has distinguished himself as an aloof and somewhat eccentric presence. His meticulous, ordered life is violently disrupted by the death of his estranged father --- unanticipated and, as it increasingly seems to N, surrounded by murky circumstances. His investigation leads him to a hotel built over a former Spanish mission, a site with a dark power and secrets all its own. On campus, a chance meeting with a young doctor provokes uncomfortable feelings on the direction of his life, and N begins to have vivid, almost hallucinatory daydreams about the year he spent in Ottawa, and a shameful episode from his past. Meanwhile, a shadowy group of fringe academics surfaces in relation to his father’s death.
Picador | 9781250829528

SILENCE IS A SENSE by Layla AlAmmar (Fiction)
A young woman sits in her apartment, watching the small daily dramas of her neighbors across the way. Journeying from her war-torn Syrian homeland to this unnamed British city has traumatized her into silence, and her only connection to the world is the column she writes for a magazine under the pseudonym “the Voiceless,” where she tries to explain the refugee experience without sensationalizing it --- or revealing anything about herself. Gradually, though, the boundaries of her world expand. When an anti-Muslim hate crime rattles the neighborhood, she has to make a choice: Will she remain a voiceless observer, or become an active participant in a community that is quickly becoming her own?
Algonquin Books | 9781643752556

THE SMASH-UP by Ali Benjamin (Fiction)
Ethan has always been one of the good guys, and for years, nobody has appreciated this fact more than his wife, Zo. Until now. Jolted into activism by the 2016 election, Zo has transformed their home into the headquarters for the local resistance, turning their comfortable decades-long marriage inside-out. Meanwhile, their boisterous daughter, Alex, grows wilder by the day. Ethan’s former business partner needs help saving the media company they’d co-founded. Financial disaster looms. Enter a breezy, blue-haired millennial making her way through the gig economy. Suddenly, Ethan faces a choice unlike any he’s ever had to make.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593229675

SORROW AND BLISS by Meg Mason (Fiction)
Martha Friel just turned 40. Once she worked at Vogue and planned to write a novel. Now she creates internet content. She used to live in a pied-à-terre in Paris. Now she lives in a gated community in Oxford, in a house she hates but cannot bear to leave. But she must leave, now that her husband Patrick has just moved out. There’s something wrong with Martha, and has been for a long time. When she was 17, a little bomb went off in her brain and she was never the same. But countless doctors, endless therapy and every kind of drug later, she still doesn’t know what’s wrong. And she has nowhere to go except her childhood home: a bohemian (dilapidated) townhouse in a romantic (rundown) part of London.
Harper Perennial | 9780063049598

SPEAK, OKINAWA: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina (Memoir)
Elizabeth's mother was working as a nightclub hostess on U.S.-occupied Okinawa when she met the American soldier who would become her husband. The language barrier and power imbalance that defined their early relationship followed them to the predominantly white, upstate New York suburb where they moved to raise their only daughter. There, Elizabeth grew up with the trappings of a typical American childhood and adolescence. Yet even though she felt almost no connection to her mother's distant home, she also felt out of place among her peers. Decades later, Elizabeth comes to recognize the shame and self-loathing that haunt both her and her mother, and attempts a form of reconciliation.
Vintage | 9781984898463

STORIES FROM SUFFRAGETTE CITY edited by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis (Historical Fiction/Short Stories)
STORIES FROM SUFFRAGETTE CITY is a collection of short stories from the leading voices in historical fiction that all take place on a single day: the day one million women marched for the right to vote in New York City in 1915. A day filled with a million different stories, and a million different voices longing to be heard. Taken together, these stories from writers at the top of their bestselling game become a chorus, stitching together a portrait of a country looking for a fight, and echo into a resounding force strong enough to break even the most stubborn of glass ceilings.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250241344

THE SWEET TASTE OF MUSCADINES by Pamela Terry (Fiction)
Lila Bruce Breedlove never quite felt at home in Wesleyan, Georgia, especially after her father’s untimely demise when she was a child. Both Lila and her brother, Henry, fled north after high school, establishing fulfilling lives of their own. In contrast, their younger sister, Abigail, opted to remain behind to dote on their domineering, larger-than-life mother, Geneva. When their elderly mother dies suddenly and suspiciously in the muscadine arbor behind the family estate, Lila and Henry return to the town that essentially raised them. But as they uncover more about Geneva’s death, shocking truths are revealed that overturn the family’s history as they know it, sending the pair on an extraordinary journey to chase a truth that will dramatically alter the course of their lives.
Ballantine Books | 9780593158470

THAT OLD COUNTRY MUSIC: Stories by Kevin Barry (Fiction/Short Stories)
With three novels and two short story collections published, Kevin Barry has steadily established his stature as one of the finest writers not just in Ireland but in the English language. All of his prodigious gifts of language, character and setting in these 11 exquisite stories transport the reader to an Ireland both timeless and recognizably modern. Shot through with dark humor and the uncanny power of the primal and unchanging Irish landscape, the stories in THAT OLD COUNTRY MUSIC represent some of the finest fiction being written today.
Anchor | 9781101911358

THEY DID BAD THINGS by Lauren A. Forry (Psychological Thriller)
In 1995, six university students moved into the house at 215 Caldwell Street. Months later, one of them was found dead on the sofa the morning after their end-of-year party. His death was ruled an accident by the police. The remaining five all knew it wasn’t, and though they went on with their lives, the truth of what happened to their sixth housemate couldn’t stay buried forever. Twenty years later, all five of them arrive --- lured separately under various pretenses --- at Wolfheather House, a crumbling, secluded mansion on the Scottish isle of Doon. Trapped inside with no way out and no signal to the outside world, the now forty-somethings fight each other --- and the unknown mastermind behind their gathering --- as they confront the role they played in their housemate’s death. They are given one choice: confess to their crimes or die.
Arcade Crimewise | 9781950994304

TINY TALES: Stories of Romance, Ambition, Kindness, and Happiness written by Alexander McCall Smith, illustrated by Iain McIntosh (Fiction/Short Stories)
In TINY TALES, Alexander McCall Smith explores romance, ambition, kindness and happiness in 30 short stories accompanied by 30 witty cartoons designed by Iain McIntosh. Here we meet the first Australian pope, who hopes to finally find some peace and quiet back home in Perth; a psychotherapist turned motorcycle racetrack manager; and an aspiring opera singer who gets her unlikely break onstage. And, of course, we spend time in McCall Smith’s beloved Scotland, where we are introduced to progressive Vikings, a group of housemates with complex romantic entanglements, and a couple of globe-trotting dentists. These tales and illustrations depict the full scope of human experience and reveal the rich tapestry of life --- painted in miniature.
Anchor | 9780593312971

TOWER OF BABEL by Michael Sears (Mystery/Thriller)
Ted Molloy was once a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, but after a spectacular fall from grace, he has found himself back on his home turf in Queens, scraping by as a foreclosure profiteer. It’s a grubby business, but a safe one --- until Ted’s case sourcer, a mostly reformed small-time conman named Richie Rubiano, turns up murdered shortly after tipping Ted off to an improbably lucrative lead. With Richie’s widow on his back and shadows of the past popping up at every turn, Ted realizes he has gotten himself embroiled in a murder investigation. His quest for the truth will take him all over Queens, plunging him into the machinations of greedy developers, mobsters, enraged activists, old litigator foes and old-school New York City operators.
Soho Crime | 9781641292627

VERA by Carol Edgarian (Historical Fiction)
Meet Vera Johnson, 15-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds --- the madam’s alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen and scant morality, and the quiet domestic life of the family paid to raise her. On the morning of the great quake, Vera’s worlds collide. As the city burns and looters vie with the injured, orphaned and starving, Vera and her guileless sister, Pie, are cast adrift. Disregarding societal norms and prejudices, Vera begins to imagine a new kind of life. She collaborates with Tan, her former rival, and forges an unlikely family of survivors, navigating through the disaster together.
Scribner | 9781501157530

WHO IS MAUD DIXON? by Alexandra Andrews (Psychological Thriller)
Florence Darrow has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amidst the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the windswept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves. But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night --- and no sign of Maud --- a dangerous idea begins to take form.
Back Bay Books | 9780316500296

March 4th

MUST LOVE DOGS: LUCKY ENOUGH by Claire Cook (Fiction)
Paperback Original
If you live in Marshbury, Massachusetts, that picture postcard perfect seaside town an hour south of Boston and the epicenter of the Irish Riviera, it’s pretty much mandatory to be a little bit Irish for the whole month of March. Preschool teacher Sarah probably should have warned John about that once they bought the Hurlihy family house. And she definitely should have told him that half the town would be watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade from their front yard. In her defense, Sarah has a lot on her plate. Hormones are flying every which way as she and John ramp up their fertility journey, their five rescue cats get spayed and neutered, and assistant teacher-slash-housemate Polly gets ready to give birth with Sarah’s bossy big sister as her labor coach.
Marshbury Beach Books | 9781942671329

TRUTH AND OTHER LIES by Maggie Smith (Fiction)
Paperback Original
After losing both her job as a reporter and her boyfriend in the same day, Megan Barnes retreats to Chicago and moves in with Helen, her overprotective mother. Before long, the two are clashing over everything from pro-choice to #MeToo, not to mention Helen's run for U.S. Congress, which puts Megan's career on hold until after the election. Desperate to reboot her life, Megan gets her chance when an altercation at a campus rally brings her face-to-face with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jocelyn Jones, who offers her a job on her PR team. Before long, Megan is pulled into the heady world of fame and glamour that her charismatic new mentor represents. Until an anonymous tweet brings it all crashing down. To salvage Jocelyn's reputation, Megan must locate the online troll and expose the lies.
TEN16 Press | 9781645382621

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