In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of April 11th and April 18th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our special contest for Joshua Moehling’s debut novel, AND THERE HE KEPT HER, which Julie Clark calls "[a] dark and complex mystery that will consume you, starring a protagonist who is equal parts quirky Milhone and steady Gamache." We are awarding 25 lucky readers an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores on June 14th. The deadline for your entries is Friday, April 22nd at noon ET.
Carol's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Amanda Eyre Ward. Her new novel, THE LIFEGUARDS, follows a close-knit group of mothers who have raised their 15-year-old sons together. One night, the boys return from their jobs as lifeguards and share something that shakes their mothers to the core. The aftereffects of this incident could upend everything in their lives as they move through a flurry of police reports, neighborhood drama and conflicted relationships.
Amanda talks to Carol about what inspired her to write this story: the unpleasant reality of people who lack empathy and what their mothers must go through. She also touches on the book's major themes: motherhood, privilege, money, longing and family. Amanda was one of the last authors we interviewed before we closed our office in 2020; at that time, we chatted about her previous book, THE JETSETTERS. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
This is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for this month's “Bookaccino Live” preview event, which will take place TOMORROW, Wednesday, April 13th at 2pm ET. Carol will present a number of titles releasing between now and May 3rd, along with a few from June, that she thinks will be of interest to you. Please keep in mind that attendees of the live event will be invited to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading. Those who do will be eligible to win a prize! Be sure to register here by 1pm ET on Wednesday, and we will send you a list of the featured titles before the event.
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, April 13th at 1pm ET: Books & Books: Books & Books and Miami Book Fair will present a virtual event with Theresa Brown, RN, who will be in conversation with Damon Tweedy about her memoir, HEALING: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient.
Wednesday, April 13th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books": Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between April 12th and May 3rd, along with a few from June, that she would like to get on your radar.
Friday, April 15th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Anne Perry will discuss her new book, THREE DEBTS PAID, in which a killer is on the loose, targeting victims with a mysterious connection that young barrister Daniel Pitt must deduce before more bodies pile up.
Monday, April 18th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome James Rollins for a live virtual event to celebrate the release of KINGDOM OF BONES as part of their B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. He will be in conversation with Steve Berry, author of THE OMEGA FACTOR.
Monday, April 18th at 7pm ET: Gibson's Bookstore: Keith O'Brien (FLY GIRLS) will return to Gibson's Bookstore to virtually present his new work of meticulously researched history, PARADISE FALLS: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe.
Tuesday, April 19th at 6:30pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome the beloved co-anchor of "Good Morning America," Robin Roberts, for a live virtual discussion of her new book, BRIGHTER BY THE DAY: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams.
Tuesday, April 19th at 9pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: David Baldacci will discuss DREAM TOWN, the third book in his thriller series starring private investigator and World War II veteran Aloysius Archer, with special guest host Don Winslow.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Special Contest for AND THERE HE KEPT HER
by Joshua Moehling, Releasing June 14th
Enter to Win One of 25 Advance Copies
Unrelentingly suspenseful and written with a piercing gaze into the dark depths of the human soul, AND THERE HE KEPT HER by debut novelist Joshua Moehling is a thrilling page-turner that introduces readers to a complicated new hero and forces us to consider the true nature of evil. The book doesn't release until June 14th, but we have 25 advance copies to give away to readers. To enter, please fill out this form by Friday, April 22nd at noon ET.
AND THERE HE KEPT HER by Joshua Moehling (Mystery/Thriller)
When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser and protector.
Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff's deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read Joshua Moehling's bio.
- Click here to visit Joshua Moehling's website.
- Connect with Joshua Moehling on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of April 11th in Hardcover
April 12th
ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING by Lisa Hsiao Chen (Fiction)
Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant, struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, year-long 1980s performance pieces. Meanwhile, she becomes the caretaker for her aging stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia. As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh’s radical use of time and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend and tenderly observes her father’s slow decline.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393881127
BOMB SHELTER: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott (Memoir)
A lifelong worrier, Mary Laura Philpott always kept an eye out for danger, a habit that only intensified when she became a parent. But she looked on the bright side, too, believing that as long as she cared enough, she could keep her loved ones safe. Then, in the dark of one quiet, pre-dawn morning, she woke abruptly to a terrible sound --- and found her teenage son unconscious on the floor. In the aftermath of a crisis that darkened her signature sunny spirit, she wondered: If this happened, what else could happen? And how do any of us keep going when we can’t know for sure what’s coming next?
Atria Books | 9781982160784
BRIGHTER BY THE DAY: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams by Robin Roberts with Michelle Burford (Self-Help/Motivational & Inspirational)
Over the last 16 years as the esteemed anchor of "Good Morning America," Robin Roberts has helped millions of people across the country greet each new morning, gracing our screens with heart and humility. She has sought to bring a bit of positivity into each day, even in the most trying of times. Now, she shares with readers the guidance she’s received, her own hard-won wisdom, and eye-opening experiences that have helped her find the good in the world and usher in light --- even on the darkest days. Drawing on advice and knowledge she gleaned from conversations with loved ones, spiritual practices and life experiences, Robin offers a window into how she feeds her own mind, spirit and soul and invites readers to do the same.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538754610
GATHERING BLOSSOMS UNDER FIRE: The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965–2000 written by Alice Walker, edited by Valerie Boyd (Literary Collection)
For the first time, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered together to reflect the complex, passionate, talented and acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner. In an unvarnished and singular voice, she explores an astonishing array of events: marching in Mississippi with other foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement; her marriage to a Jewish lawyer; an early miscarriage; writing her first novel; the trials and triumphs of the Women’s Movement; erotic encounters and enduring relationships; the ancestral visits that led her to write THE COLOR PURPLE; winning the Pulitzer Prize; being admired and maligned, sometimes in equal measure, for her work and her activism; and burying her mother.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476773155
HEALING: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient by Theresa Brown, RN (Memoir)
New York Times bestselling author Theresa Brown tells a poignant, powerful and intensely personal story about breast cancer. She brings us along with her from the mammogram that would change her life through her diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Despite her training and years of experience as an oncology and hospice nurse, she finds herself continually surprised by the lack of compassion in the medical maze. Why is she expected to wait over a long weekend to hear the results of her cancer tests if they are ready? Where is the empathy from caregivers? Why is she so often left in the dark about procedures and treatments? At times she’s mad at herself for not speaking up and asking for what she needs. But she knows that being labeled a “difficult” patient could mean she gets worse care.
Algonquin Books | 9781643750699
HELLO, MOLLY!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon with Sean Wilsey (Memoir)
At age four, Molly Shannon’s world was shattered when she lost her mother, baby sister and cousin in a car accident with her father at the wheel. She was raised in a permissive household where her gift for improvising and role-playing blossomed alongside the fearlessness that would lead her to become a celebrated actress. From there, Molly ventured into the wider world of New York and Los Angeles show business, where she created her own opportunities and developed her daring and empathetic comedy. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories, HELLO, MOLLY! spans Molly’s time on "Saturday Night Live." At the same time, it explores with humor and candor her struggle to come to terms with the legacy of her father.
Ecco | 9780063056237
IN A TIME OF DISTANCE: And Other Poems written by Alexander McCall Smith, with illustrations by Iain McIntosh (Poetry)
What matters most in life? For Alexander McCall Smith, it is friendship, love and travel --- the themes found throughout his work that have made him a cherished writer the world over. This first collection of Smith’s poems reflects on these topics with all his characteristic wit and charm. There are moments of sweeping insight and soaring feeling, and moments that will have you laughing along as they subtly shift your worldview. This inimitable writer shares his distinctively astute and good-natured observations on life, love and beauty, reminding us of the deep satisfaction that can be found when we open ourselves up to the world with our whole heart, and watch as it takes on a kinder and gentler shape.
Pantheon | 9780593315989
INSOMNIA by Sarah Pinborough (Psychological Thriller)
Emma can’t sleep. It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer. Her mother stopped sleeping just before her own 40th birthday. She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it. Is that what’s happening to Emma?
William Morrow | 9780062856845
THE INVESTIGATOR: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford (Mystery/Thriller)
A recent Stanford grad, Letty Davenport is restless and bored in a desk job for U.S. Senator Colles. But then Colles offers her a carrot: feet-on-the-ground investigative work, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude. Rumor has it that a fairly ugly militia group --- led by a woman known only as Lorelai --- might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning. Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser, and they head to Texas. When the case quickly turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger. Lorelai and her group have set in motion an explosive plan...and the clock is ticking down.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593328682
LAST DANCE ON THE STARLIGHT PIER by Sarah Bird (Historical Fiction)
July 3, 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She’d come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied --- a family, a purpose, even love --- waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250265548
LEFT ON TENTH: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir by Delia Ephron (Memoir)
Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She’d lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry’s death, she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She channeled her grief by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates 54 years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and ’60s folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love. But four months later, she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316267656
THE LOST BOOK OF ELEANOR DARE by Kimberly Brock (Historical Fiction)
What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known that the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured commonplace book. In the waning days of World War II, Eleanor's daughter, Alice, is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her 13-year-old daughter, Penn. But when Penn’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets, and Eleanor’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.
Harper Muse | 9781400234202
MRS. ENGLAND by Stacey Halls (Historical Fiction)
West Yorkshire, 1904. When recently graduated Ruby May takes a nanny position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear something is not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs. England. Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband and is far from the angel of the house Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew.
Mira | 9780778386315
NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE: Stories by Leigh Newman (Fiction/Short Stories)
Set in Leigh Newman’s home state of Alaska, NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE is a collection of dazzling, courageous stories about women struggling to survive not just grizzly bears and charging moose but the raw, exhausting legacy of their marriages and families. In “Howl Palace” --- winner of The Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize, a Best American Short Story, and Pushcart Prize selection --- an aging widow struggles with a rogue hunting dog and the memories of her five ex-husbands while selling her house after bankruptcy. In the title story, “Nobody Gets Out Alive,” newly married Katrina visits her hometown of Anchorage and blows up her own wedding reception by flirting with the host and running off with an enormous mastodon tusk.
Scribner | 9781982180300
ONE-SHOT HARRY by Gary Phillips (Historical Mystery)
Los Angeles, 1963. African American Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on the eve of Martin Luther King’s Freedom Rally, Ingram risks becoming a victim at every crime scene he photographs. When Ingram hears about a deadly automobile accident on his police scanner, he recognizes the vehicle described as belonging to his good friend and old army buddy, a white jazz trumpeter. The LAPD declares the car crash an accident, but when Ingram develops his photos, he sees signs of foul play. Ingram feels compelled to play detective, even if it means putting his own life on the line.
Soho Crime | 9781641292917
PARADISE FALLS: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe by Keith O'Brien (Biography)
Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an elementary school, a playground and rows of affordable homes. But in the spring of 1977, pungent odors began to seep into these little houses, and it didn’t take long for worried mothers to identify the curious scent. It was the sickly sweet smell of chemicals. In PARADISE FALLS, New York Times journalist Keith O’Brien uncovers how Gibbs and Kenny exposed the poisonous secrets buried in their neighborhood.
Pantheon | 9780593318430
THE PATRON SAINT OF SECOND CHANCES by Christine Simon (Fiction/Humor)
Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy, Signor Speranza has a problem. Unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism --- and revenue --- he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby. Unfortunately, the plan works a little too well, and soon everyone in town wants to be a part of the fictional film. To his surprise, Speranza realizes that the only way to keep up the ruse is to make the movie for real. But what happens when Dante Rinaldi doesn’t show up? Or worse, what if he does?
Atria Books | 9781982188771
THE SACRED BRIDGE: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Mystery)
Sergeant Jim Chee is on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery that his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier. Chee’s journey takes a deadly turn when he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk. Meanwhile, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.
Harper | 9780062908360
SUMMER AT THE CAPE by RaeAnne Thayne (Fiction)
As the older sibling to identical twins Violet and Lily, Cami Porter was always the odd sister out. The divide grew even wider when their parents split up. While the twins stayed in Cape Sanctuary with their free-spirited mother, 14-year-old Cami moved to LA with her attorney father. Nearly 20 years later, when Cami gets the terrible news that Lily has drowned saving a child’s life, her mother begs her to return home to help untangle the complicated estate issues her sister left behind. Cami readjusts to the family and community she hasn’t known for decades, including the neighbor who stands in the way of her late sister’s dream. Violet grieves the loss of her twin and struggles to figure out who she is now, without her other half, as the little girl Lily saved pulls her back into the orbit of the man she once loved.
HQN | 9781335936356
TAKE MY HAND by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Fiction)
Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, she is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are just 11 and 13 years old. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.
Berkley | 9780593337691
TASHA: A Son's Memoir by Brian Morton (Memoir)
Tasha Morton is a force of nature: a brilliant educator who’s left her mark on generations of students --- and also a whirlwind of a mother, intrusive, chaotic, oppressively devoted and irrepressible. For decades, her son Brian has kept her at a self-protective distance, but when her health begins to fail, he knows it’s time to assume responsibility for her care. Even so, he’s not prepared for what awaits him, as her refusal to accept her own fragility leads to a series of epic outbursts and altercations that are sometimes frightening, sometimes wildly comic, and sometimes both.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982178932
THREE DEBTS PAID: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
A serial killer is roaming the streets of London, and Daniel Pitt’s university chum Ian, now a member of the police, is leading the search. The murders happen on rainy nights, but Ian knows the victims must have something in common beyond the weather. He turns to Miriam fford Croft, Daniel’s good friend and now officially one of the first female pathologists in London, to tap her scientific know-how to find details he and Daniel have missed. With Miriam involved in the murder investigation, Ian passes Daniel the case of Nicholas Wolford, their former university professor. Charged with assault after reacting violently to an accusation of plagiarism, Wolford is loath to admit he was in the wrong. But Daniel must defend him --- whether he likes him or not.
Ballantine Books | 9780593358733
A TINY UPWARD SHOVE by Melissa Chadburn (Fiction)
Marina Salles’ life does not end the day she wakes up dead. Instead, in the course of a moment, she is transformed into the stuff of myth, the stuff of her grandmother’s old Filipino stories --- an aswang, a creature of mystery and vengeance. She spent her time on earth on the margins. Shot like a pinball through a childhood of loss, she was a veteran of Child Protective Services and a survivor, but always reacting, watching from a distance, understanding very little of her own life, let alone the lives of others. Death brings her into the hearts and minds of those she has known --- even her killer --- as she accesses their memories and sees anew the meaning of her own.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374277758
TO THE UTTERMOST ENDS OF THE EARTH: The Epic Hunt for the South's Most Feared Ship --- and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War by Phil Keith with Tom Clavin (History)
On June 19, 1864, just off the coast of France, one of the most dramatic naval battles in history took place. On a clear day with windswept skies, the dreaded Confederate raider Alabama faced the Union warship Kearsarge in an all-or-nothing fight to the finish, the outcome of which would effectively end the threat of the Confederacy on the high seas. Authors Phil Keith and Tom Clavin introduce some of the crucial but historically overlooked players, including John Winslow, captain of the USS Kearsarge, as well as Raphael Semmes, captain of the CSS Alabama. Winslow pursued Semmes in a spectacular 14-month chase over international waters, culminating in what would become the climactic sea battle of the Civil War.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335471413
TRUE: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy (Sports/Biography)
TRUE is an unconventional biography, focusing on four transformative years in Jackie Robinson's athletic and public life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues for the Montreal Royals; 1949, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award in his third season as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his final season in major league baseball, when he played valiantly despite his increasing health struggles; and 1972, the year of his untimely death. Through it all, Robinson remained true to the effort and the mission, true to his convictions and contradictions. These four crucial years offer a unique vision of Robinson as a player, a father and husband, and a civil rights hero.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250274045
UNLIKELY ANIMALS by Annie Hartnett (Fiction)
Natural-born healer Emma Starling once had big plans for her life, but she’s lost her way. A medical school dropout, she’s come back to Everton, New Hampshire, to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive Starling has been hallucinating small animals, as well as having visions of the ghost of a long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, once known for letting wild animals live in his house. This ghost has been giving Clive some ideas on how to spend his final days. Emma arrives home knowing she must face her dad’s illness, her mom’s judgment and her younger brother’s recent stint in rehab. But she’s unprepared to find that her former best friend from high school is missing, with no one bothering to look for her.
Ballantine Books | 9780593160220
WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Personal Growth/Inspiration & Motivation)
What really matters in life? What truly lasts in our hearts and minds? Where can we find community, history, humanity? In WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE, the answer is clear: through writing. This is a book for what Anna Quindlen calls “civilians,” those who want to use the written word to become more human, more themselves. It argues that there has never been a more important time to stop and record what we are thinking and feeling. Using examples from past, present and future --- from Anne Frank to Toni Morrison, from love letters written after World War II to journal reflections from nurses and doctors today --- WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE vividly illuminates the ways in which writing connects us to ourselves and to those we cherish.
Random House | 9780593229835
April 13th
MAJOR LEAGUE REBELS: Baseball Battles Over Workers' Rights and American Empire by Robert Elias and Peter Dreier (Sports/History)
In MAJOR LEAGUE REBELS, Robert Elias and Peter Dreier reveal a little-known yet important history of rebellion among professional ballplayers. These reformers took inspiration from the country’s dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses within their profession and their country. Elias and Dreier profile the courageous players who demanded better working conditions, battled against corporate power, and challenged America’s unjust wars, imperialism and foreign policies, resisting the brash patriotism that many link with the “national pastime.”
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | 9781538158883
On Sale the Week of April 11th in Paperback
April 12th
DEATH WITH A DOUBLE EDGE: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
Junior barrister Daniel Pitt is summoned to the scene of a murder in the London district known as Mile End. The victim is a senior barrister from the same firm. The firm’s head, Marcus fford Croft, may know more than he admits, but his memory is not what it used to be. Daniel and Kitteridge’s inquiries lead them to a local brothel and to an opium den, but also to a wealthy shipbuilder crucial to Britain’s effort to build up its fleet, which may soon face the fearsome naval might of Germany. Daniel finds his path blocked by officials at every turn, and even his father receives a chilling warning from a powerful source. Suddenly, not just Daniel but his whole family --- including his beloved mother, Charlotte --- is in danger.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159354
FIRST, BECOME ASHES by K.M. Szpara (Fantasy/Adventure)
For 30 years, the Fellowship of the Anointed isolated its members, conditioning them to believe that pain is power and magic is suffering. But when their leader is arrested, all her teachings come into question. How will they adjust to the world they were taught to fear, and how will they relate to the cult's last crusader, Lark? For Kane, survival means rejecting the magic he and his lover suffered for. For Deryn, the cult's collapse is an opportunity to prove they are worth as much as their Anointed brother. For Calvin, lark is the alluring embodiment of the magic he's been seeking his entire life. But for Lark, the Fellowship isn’t over. Before he can begin to discover himself and heal a lifetime of traumas, he has a monster to slay.
Tordotcom | 9781250216328
HOT STEW by Fiona Mozley (Fiction)
In the middle of the bustle of Soho sits a building that young millionaire Agatha Howard wants to convert into luxury condos as soon as she can kick out all the tenants. However, the building in question houses a brothel, and Precious and Tabitha, two of the women who live and work there, are not going to go quietly. The fight over this piece of property also draws in the men who visit, including Robert, a one-time member of a far-right group and enforcer for Agatha’s father; Jackie, a policewoman intent on making London a safer place for all women; Bastian, a rich and dissatisfied party boy who pines for an ex-girlfriend; and a collection of vagabonds and strays who occupy the basement.
Algonquin Books | 9781643752600
THE HUSBANDS by Chandler Baker (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Nora Spangler is a successful attorney, but when it comes to domestic life, she packs the lunches, schedules the doctor appointments, knows where the extra paper towel rolls are, and designs and orders the holiday cards. Her husband works hard, too...but why does it seem like she is always working so much harder? The Spanglers go house hunting in Dynasty Ranch, a nice suburban neighborhood where Nora meets a group of high-powered women with enviably supportive husbands. When she agrees to help with a resident’s gruesome wrongful death case, she delves into the lives of the women there. As the case unravels, Nora uncovers a plot that may explain the secret to having it all. One that’s worth killing for.
Flatiron Books | 9781250205384
JUST ONE LOOK by Lindsay Cameron (Psychological Thriller)
After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie Woodson takes a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness. But when she orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she’s been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn’t simply admire Annabelle --- she wants to take her place. And she’s armed with the tools to make that happen.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159071
MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev March (Historical Mystery)
In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lies in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild northern frontier, with little to do but re-read the tales of his idol, Sherlock Holmes, and browse the daily papers. The case that catches Captain Jim's attention is being called the crime of the century: Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by Adi, the widower of one of the victims --- and his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide --- Captain Jim approaches the Parsee family and is hired to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon. But in a land of divided loyalties, asking questions is dangerous.
Minotaur Books | 9781250813824
THE NEW NEIGHBOR by Carter Wilson (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Aidan Marlowe has been playing the same lottery numbers for 15 years, never hitting the jackpot. Until now. On the day of his wife's funeral. Aidan struggles to cope with these two sudden extremes. But the money gives him and his kids options they didn't have before. They can leave everything behind and start a new life in a new town. So they do. But a huge new house and all the money in the world can't replace what they've lost, and it's not long before Aidan realizes he's merely trading old demons for new ones. Because someone is watching him and his family very closely. Someone who knows exactly who they are, where they've come from and what they're trying to hide. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728247526
THE NO-SHOW by Beth O'Leary (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth. These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: they’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up --- Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man. Once they've each forgiven him for standing them up, they are all in serious danger of falling in love with a man who may have not just one or two but three women on the go. Is there more to him than meets the eye?
Berkley | 9780593438442
PEOPLE LIKE HER by Ellery Lloyd (Psychological Thriller)
To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is. To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse who is chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life. To one of Emmy’s dangerously obsessive followers, she’s the woman who has everything --- but deserves none of it. As Emmy’s marriage begins to crack under the strain of her growing success and her moral compass veers wildly off course, the more vulnerable she becomes to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062997401
RUBY FALLS by Deborah Goodrich Royce (Psychological Thriller)
On a brilliantly sunny July day, six-year-old Ruby is abandoned by her father in the suffocating dark of a Tennessee cave. Twenty years later, transformed into soap opera star Eleanor Russell, she is fired under dubious circumstances. Fleeing to Europe, she marries a glamorous stranger named Orlando Montague and keeps her past closely hidden. Together, Eleanor and Orlando start afresh in LA. Setting up house in a storybook cottage in the Hollywood Hills, Eleanor is cast in a dream role --- the lead in a remake of REBECCA. As she immerses herself in that eerie gothic tale, Orlando’s personality changes, ghosts of her past re-emerge, and Eleanor fears she is not the only person in her marriage with a secret.
Post Hill Press | 9781637583340
RUST & STARDUST by T. Greenwood (Historical Thriller)
Camden, NJ, 1948. When Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth's, she’s accosted by an FBI agent. Sally dutifully follows his orders, oblivious to a haunting reality: he’s not an FBI agent. And he’s going to kidnap her. RUST & STARDUST traces the next two harrowing years for Sally as she’s held captive, forever altering her life and the lives of her family, friends and those she meets along the way as they travel from Camden to San Jose. Sally must overcome the impossible when all hope seems lost, waiting for the day she can return home and tell her story.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250164209
A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders (Literary Criticism/Essays)
For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9781984856036
THIS CLOSE TO OKAY by Leesa Cross-Smith (Fiction)
On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing at the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. What she doesn’t realize is that Emmett isn’t the only one who needs healing --- and they both are harboring secrets.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538715369
WE BEGIN AT THE END by Chris Whitaker (Mystery/Thriller)
Duchess Day Radley is a 13-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids. Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother. Now, 30 years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250759689
WHILE JUSTICE SLEEPS by Stacey Abrams (Legal Thriller)
Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk for the legendary Justice Howard Wynn, is doing her best to hold her strained personal life together. But when the shocking news breaks that Justice Wynn --- the cantankerous swing vote on the court --- has slipped into a coma, Avery’s life turns upside down. She learns that Wynn has appointed her to serve as his legal guardian and hold his power of attorney. Avery finds that Justice Wynn had been secretly researching one of the most controversial cases before the court --- a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field. She also discovers that Wynn suspected a dangerous conspiracy was infiltrating the highest corridors of power in Washington.
Anchor | 9780593310939
On Sale the Week of April 18th in Hardcover
April 19th
BEAUTIFUL by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
At age 22, Veronique Vincent is one of the most sought-after models in fashion, gracing the covers of magazines and walking the runways of haute couture shows across the globe. Yet, despite being the consummate professional, Veronique wants little of the glamorous life that modeling affords her. The beloved daughter of a hardworking single mother, she has always preferred spending time at home or with her kindhearted boyfriend to attending lavish parties. When a quick getaway presents a welcome break on the heels of Paris Fashion Week, Veronique is thrilled, eager to escape the mayhem of her busy schedule. Then, out of nowhere, a tragic explosion at Zaventem Airport in Brussels changes her life forever.
Delacorte Press | 9781984821645
BLACK GHOST OF EMPIRE: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation by Kris Manjapra (History)
To understand why the shadow of slavery still haunts society today, we must not only look at what slavery was, but also the unfinished way it ended. One may think of “emancipation” as a finale, leading to a new age of human rights and universal freedoms. But in reality, emancipations everywhere were incomplete. In BLACK GHOST OF EMPIRE, acclaimed historian and professor Kris Manjapra identifies five types of emancipation --- explaining them in chronological order --- along with the lasting impact these transitions had on formerly enslaved groups around the Atlantic.
Scribner | 9781982123475
BLOOD SUGAR by Sascha Rothchild (Psychological Thriller)
Though she may be a murderer, Ruby is not a sociopath. She is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice. She has had long-lasting friendships and relationships, and a husband, Jason, she adores. But the homicide detectives at Miami Beach PD are not convinced of her happy marriage. When we meet Ruby, she is in a police interrogation room being accused of Jason’s murder. Which, ironically, is one murder that she did not commit. As she undergoes questioning, Ruby’s mind races back to all the details of her life that led her to this exact moment, and to the three dead bodies in her wake. Because though she may not have killed her husband, Ruby certainly isn’t innocent.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593331545
CRIME HITS HOME: A Collection of Stories from Crime Fiction's Top Authors edited by S.J. Rozan (Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Everyone comes from someplace. Everyone has somewhere they feel safe. Some people have found their home and are content where they are. Others feel trapped and yearn to go somewhere else. Many are somewhere else and yearn to go back. But even in these safest of places, sometimes crime hits home. What happens then? In this volume, Mystery Writers of America brings together some of today’s biggest crime writers --- and some of our most exciting new talents --- to consider this question. Each writer has defined home as they see fit: a place, a group, a feeling. The crime can come from without or within. What happens when crime hits home?
Hanover Square Press | 9781335425799
DREAM TOWN: An Archer Novel by David Baldacci (Historical Thriller)
Aloysius Archer is in Los Angeles to ring in the New Year with an old friend, aspiring actress Liberty Callahan, when their evening is interrupted by an acquaintance of Callahan’s: Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter in dire straits. After a series of increasingly chilling events, Eleanor fears that her life is in danger, and she wants to hire Archer to look into the matter. Archer suspects that Eleanor knows more than she’s saying, but before he can officially take on her case, a dead body turns up inside of Eleanor’s home…and Eleanor herself disappears. With the help of Callahan and his partner, Willie Dash, Archer launches an investigation that will take him from mob-ridden Las Vegas to the glamorous world of Hollywood to the darkest corners of Los Angeles.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538719770
END OF THE WORLD HOUSE by Adrienne Celt (Fiction)
Bertie and Kate have been best friends since high school. Bertie is a semi-failed cartoonist, working for a prominent Silicon Valley tech firm. Her job depresses her, but not as much as the fact that Kate has recently decided to move to Los Angeles. When Bertie’s attempts to make Kate stay fail, she suggests the next best thing: a trip to Paris that will hopefully distract the duo from their upcoming separation. One night in Paris, they meet a strange man in a bar who offers them a private tour of the Louvre. The women find themselves alone in the museum, where nothing is quite as it seems. Caught up in a day that keeps repeating itself, Bertie and Kate are eventually separated, and Bertie is faced with a mystery that threatens to derail everything.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982169480
FEVERED STAR by Rebecca Roanhorse (Historical Fantasy)
The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent. The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded? As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth. And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages.
Gallery/Saga Press | 9781534437739
THE GREAT STEWARDESS REBELLION: How Women Launched a Workplace Revolution at 30,000 Feet by Nell McShane Wulfhart (History)
As flying boomed in the 1960s, women from across the United States applied for jobs as stewardesses. They were drawn to the promise of glamorous jet-setting, the chance to see the world, and an alternative to traditional occupations. But as the number of “stews” grew, so did their suspicion that the job was not as picture-perfect as the ads would have them believe. “Sky girls” had to adhere to strict weight limits at all times. They couldn’t marry or have children. Their makeup, hair and teeth had to be just so. And they had to resign at 32. Eventually the stewardesses began to push back, and it’s thanks to their trailblazing efforts in part that working women have gotten closer to workplace equality today.
Doubleday | 9780385546454
KINGDOM OF BONES by James Rollins (Thriller)
A United Nations relief team in a small village in the Congo makes an alarming discovery. An unknown force is leveling the evolutionary playing field. Men, women and children have been reduced to a dull, catatonic state. The environment surrounding them has grown more cunning and predatory, evolving at an exponential pace. The insidious phenomenon is spreading from a cursed site in the jungle --- known to locals as the Kingdom of Bones --- and sweeping across Africa, threatening the rest of the world. What has made the biosphere run amok? Is it a natural event? Or, more terrifyingly, did someone engineer it? As Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force race to find answers, they quickly realize that they have become the prey.
William Morrow | 9780062892980
LOVING EDIE: How a Dog Afraid of Everything Taught Me to Be Brave by Meredith May (Memoir)
Meredith May had a difficult childhood, with a mother who was physically present but emotionally absent. She learned early on to fend for herself and never had to care for anyone else. When she and her wife, Jenn, adopt Edie, a sweet golden retriever puppy, Edie wins their hearts immediately. But it isn’t long after Edie joins the family that the problems begin. Edie is an unusually anxious dog whose fears become so intense that Meredith and Jenn can’t leave the house. Meredith grows determined to fix Edie, but what will she do if Edie can’t be fixed? In LOVING EDIE, Meredith shares her unforgettable journey with Edie, and the lessons about selflessness and unconditional love that she learns along the way.
Park Row | 9780778312024
PASSERSTHROUGH by Peter Rock (Fiction)
At age 11, Helen disappeared in the wilderness of Mount Rainier National Park while camping with her father, Benjamin. She was gone for almost a week before being discovered and returned to her family. It is now 25 years later, and after more than two decades of estrangement, Helen and Benjamin reconnect at his home in Portland, Oregon, to try to understand what happened during the days she was gone. Meanwhile, Benjamin meets an odd pair, a woman and boy who seem driven to help him learn more about Helen’s disappearance and send him on a journey that will lead to a murder house, uncanny possession and a bone-filled body of water known as Sad Clown Lake, a lake “that could only be found by getting lost, that was never in the same place twice.”
Soho Press | 9781641293433
PAY DIRT ROAD by Samantha Jayne Allen (Mystery)
Recently graduated from college and back home in Garnett, Texas, waitressing, lacking not in ambition but certainly in direction, Annie McIntyre is lured into the family business --- a private investigation firm --- by her supposed-to-be-retired grandfather, Leroy, despite the rest of the clan’s misgivings. When a waitress at the café goes missing, Annie and Leroy begin an investigation that leads them down rural routes and haunted byways, to noxious-smelling oil fields and to the glowing neon of local honky-tonks. As Annie works to uncover the truth, she finds herself identifying with the victim in increasing, unsettling ways, and realizes she must confront her own past if she wants to survive this homecoming.
Minotaur Books | 9781250804273
SPEAR by Nicola Griffith (Historical Fantasy)
She grows up in the wild wood, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake drift to her on the spring breeze, scented with promise. And when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she decides her future lies at his court. So, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and sets out on her bony gelding for Caer Leon. With her stolen hunting spear and mended armour, she is an unlikely hero, not a chosen one, but one who forges her own bright path. Aflame with determination, she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust and fights to death. On her adventures, she will steal the hearts of beautiful women, fight warriors and sorcerers, and make a place to call home.
Tordotcom | 9781250819321
WINGWALKERS by Taylor Brown (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
WINGWALKERS follows the adventures of Della and Zeno Marigold, a pair of Great Depression barnstormers who are funding their journey west by performing death-defying aerial stunts from town to town, and braids them with the real-life exploits of author (and thwarted fighter pilot) William Faulkner. When their paths cross during a dramatic air show, there will be unexpected consequences for all.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250274595
On Sale the Week of April 18th in Paperback
April 19th
THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR by Andrea Stewart (Fantasy)
Lin Sukai finally sits on the throne she won at so much cost, but her struggles are only just beginning. Her people don’t trust her. Her political alliances are weak. And in the north-east of the Empire, a rebel army of constructs is gathering, its leader determined to take the throne by force. Yet an even greater threat is on the horizon, for the Alanga --- the powerful magicians of legend --- have returned to the Empire. They claim they come in peace, and Lin will need their help in order to defeat the rebels and restore peace. But can she trust them?
Orbit | 9780316541473
DEATH OF THE BLACK WIDOW by James Patterson and J. D. Barker (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
On his first night with the Detroit PD, Officer Walter O’Brien is called to a murder scene. A terrified 20-year-old has bludgeoned her kidnapper with skill that shocks even O’Brien’s veteran partner. The young woman is also a brilliant escape artist. Her bold flight from police custody makes the case impossible to solve --- and, for Walter, even more impossible to forget. By the time Walter is promoted to detective, his fascination with the missing, gray-eyed woman is approaching obsession. And when Walter discovers that he’s not alone in his search, one truth is certain. This deadly string of secrets didn’t begin in his home city --- but he’s going to make sure it ends there.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538753095
EARLY MORNING RISER by Katherine Heiny (Fiction)
Jane falls in love with Duncan easily. Unfortunately, he has slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan, and she sees his old girlfriends everywhere. His ex-wife, Aggie, still has Duncan mow her lawn. His coworker, Jimmy, comes and goes from his apartment at the most inopportune times. Sometimes Jane wonders if a relationship can even work with three people in it --- never mind four. Five if you count Aggie's eccentric husband, Gary. But any notion Jane had of love and marriage changes with one terrible car crash. Soon her life is permanently intertwined with Duncan's, Aggie's and Jimmy's, and she knows she will never have Duncan to herself. But could it be possible that a deeper kind of happiness is right in front of Jane's eyes?
Vintage | 9780593082720
ENDINGS by Linda L. Richards (Psychological Thriller)
What would it take for you to kill someone for money? And if you did, who --- or what --- would you have become? These are the questions one woman faces when she loses everyone she loves and everything she has. When the opportunity arrives to reinvent herself as a killer for hire, she takes it. She’s good at it --- and if she doesn’t do it, someone else will. Then everything changes when she learns about a serial killer so horrible she vows to find him and kill him until --- overcome by self-doubt --- she seeks redemption rather than vengeance.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094837
FALSE WITNESS by Karin Slaughter (Mystery/Thriller)
Leigh Collier is an up-and-coming defense attorney and is managing to successfully coparent through a pandemic. But her ordinary life masks a childhood no one should have to endure. On a Sunday night at her daughter’s school play, she gets a call from one of the firm's partners who wants Leigh to come on board to defend a wealthy man accused of multiple counts of rape. When she meets the accused face-to-face, she realizes it’s no coincidence that he’s specifically asked for her to represent him. He may know what happened over 20 years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades avoiding her past. The only person who can help is her younger, estranged sister Callie --- the last person Leigh would ever want to drag into this after all they’ve been through.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062858962
FAMILY REUNION by Nancy Thayer (Fiction)
Eleanor Sunderland loves living on Nantucket, in a gorgeous cliffside home that has been in her family for decades. Yet this year she can’t help but feel a bit isolated, even as the island begins to come alive with summer tourists and travelers. Fresh off the heels of her college graduation, Eleanor’s dear granddaughter, Ari, has just ended an engagement that felt less like true love and more like a chore. Taking advantage of her newfound freedom, she heads to Nantucket to clear her head before graduate school, moving in with her grandmother and taking a job at the local beach camp. But just as grandmother and granddaughter fall into a carefree routine, a few shocking discoveries throw them off course, and their ideas of the future seem suddenly uncertain.
Ballantine Books | 9781524798802
GOLD DIGGERS by Sanjena Sathian (Fiction/Magical Realism)
A floundering second-generation teenager growing up in the Bush-era Atlanta suburbs, Neil Narayan is funny and smart but struggles to bear the weight of expectations of his family and their Asian American enclave. He tries to want their version of success, but mostly, Neil just wants his neighbor across the cul-de-sac, Anita Dayal. When he discovers that Anita is the beneficiary of an ancient, alchemical potion made from stolen gold --- a “lemonade” that harnesses the ambition of the gold’s original owner --- Neil sees his chance to get ahead. But events spiral into a tragedy that rips their community apart. Years later in the Bay Area, Neil still bristles against his community's expectations --- and finds he might need one more hit of that lemonade, no matter the cost.
Penguin Books | 9781984882059
GUMSHOE OUTLAW: A Mortimer Angel Mystery by Rob Leininger (Mystery)
Paperback Original
The U.S. attorney general, Susan D. Kenny, is missing. She walked out of the DOJ building in D.C. without a word to anyone, caught a taxi, and...vanished. A week later, Mortimer Angel, private eye (in training) and reluctant finder of famous missing persons, is surreptitiously contacted by a Secret Service agent and asked to fly to the nation’s capital to use his ineffable brand of skill, talent or just plain luck to help find the still-missing attorney general. Mort declines that dubious honor, but less than 12 hours later he is taken at gunpoint by --- who else? --- a gorgeous girl and dragged into the most risqué and improbable case of his career.
Independently published | 9798431113680
IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE by Ashley Winstead (Psychological Thriller)
Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to Duquette University. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see --- confident, beautiful, indifferent. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby's murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she'd been closest to since freshman year. But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette 10 years ago, and not everyone can let Heather's murder go unsolved. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night --- and the years' worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728243207
THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller (Fiction)
Elle, a 50-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” --- the family summer place that she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: Last night, Elle and her oldest friend, Jonas, crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next 24 hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn’t forever changed the course of their lives. As Miranda Cowley Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity.
Riverhead Books | 9780593329832
PART OF YOUR WORLD by Abby Jimenez (Romance)
Paperback Original
After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s 10 years younger than her and as casual as they come --- and their chemistry is undeniable. While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.
Forever | 9781538704370
PESTICIDE: A Polizei Bern Novel by Kim Hays (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When a rave on a hot summer night erupts into violent riots in Bern, Switzerland, a young man is found the next morning bludgeoned to death with a policeman’s club. Seasoned detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to the case. That same day, an elderly organic farmer turns up dead and drenched with pesticide. Enter Giuliana’s younger --- and distractingly attractive --- colleague, Renzo Donatelli, to investigate the second murder. When an unexpected discovery ties the two victims into a single case, Giuliana and Renzo are thrown closer together than ever before. Dangerously close. Will Giuliana be able to handle the threats to her marriage and to her assumptions about the police?
Seventh Street Books | 9781645060468
THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER: A Linda Wallheim Mystery Set in Mormon Utah by Mette Ivie Harrison (Mystery)
Linda Wallheim, increasingly disillusioned with her religion, has begun marriage counseling with her husband, Kurt, a bishop in the Mormon Church. She also occupies herself with happier things, like visiting her five grown sons and their families. When Linda’s eldest son, Joseph, tells her his infant daughter’s babysitter, Sabrina Jensen, has vanished, Linda can’t help but ask questions. Her casual inquiries form the portrait of a teenager under extreme pressure from her parents to be the perfect Mormon daughter, and it emerges that Sabrina is the victim of a terrible crime at the hands of her own classmates. Linda’s search for Sabrina will lead her to the darker streets of Utah and cause her to question if the Mormon community’s most privileged and powerful will be called to task for past sins.
Soho Crime | 9781641293495
REVELATIONS by Mary Sharratt (Historical Fiction)
Bishop’s Lynn, England, 1413. At the age of 40, Margery Kempe has nearly died giving birth to her 14th child. Fearing that another pregnancy might kill her, she makes a vow of celibacy, but she can’t trust her husband to keep his end of the bargain. Desperate for counsel, she visits the famous anchoress Dame Julian of Norwich. Pouring out her heart, Margery confesses that she has been haunted by visceral religious visions. Julian then offers up a confession of her own: she has written a secret, radical book about her own visions, Revelations of Divine Love. Nearing the end of her life and fearing Church authorities, Julian entrusts her precious book to Margery, who sets off on the adventure of a lifetime to secretly spread Julian's words.
Mariner Books | 9780358697398
SECOND PLACE by Rachel Cusk (Fiction)
A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma --- and disrupts the calm of her secluded household. SECOND PLACE is a study of female fate and male privilege, the geometries of human relationships, and the moral questions that animate our lives. It reminds us of art’s capacity to uplift --- and to destroy.
Picador | 9781250838681
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