In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 9th and May 16th 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 HELLTOWN by Casey Sherman. While the Manson family was on a murder spree in California, there was an equally vicious serial killer on the loose on the East Coast --- one so infamous that literary icons Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer were fighting over who would get to write about him. We are awarding 25 lucky readers an advance copy of the book, which will be in stores on July 12th. The deadline for your entries is Friday, May 20th at noon ET.
Carol's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Sarah McCoy, whose new novel, MUSTIQUE ISLAND, will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. The setting is the early 1970s, when Mustique --- one of the tiniest islands in the Caribbean --- was owned by British playboy Colin Tennant. As the book opens, a beauty queen sails to Mustique looking for a place to reassess her life and meets Tennant's famous friends, whose days are spent partying. This is as much a mother/daughter/sister story as it is a story about extravagant island life.
In the interview, Sarah explains how a book about Colin Tennant got her imagination whirling. She planned a trip to Mustique Island on March 30, 2020, and you can guess how that went. After the discussion, you will see why you want to pack a copy of MUSTIQUE ISLAND for your vacation reading this summer. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
We are happy to share with you an interview that Carol did a few weeks ago with Nelson DeMille and Janet Evanovich as part of Simon & Schuster’s Spring 2022 AuthorFest event. Nelson and Janet have created some of the most iconic recurring characters in fiction, and Carol talked to them about how they keep their characters interesting, surprising and fresh, novel after novel. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast. Janet’s latest book is THE RECOVERY AGENT and introduces readers to a new protagonist, recovery agent Gabriela Rose. Nelson’s upcoming book, THE MAZE, releases on October 11th and marks the return of former NYPD homicide detective John Corey.
This is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for this month’s “Bookaccino Live” preview event, which will take place TOMORROW, Wednesday, May 11th at 2pm ET. Carol will talk about titles releasing between now and June 7th, along with a few from July, that she would like to get on your radar. Click here to register. Those attending the live event will be asked to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading and will be eligible to win a prize.
We are hosting our 11th Annual Book Group Speed Dating event this Friday, May 13th from 1pm to 2:30pm ET, where 14 publishers will be sharing the titles that they think will resonate with book clubs over the next six months. If you are a bookseller, librarian or book group leader who runs multiple book groups, you will not want to miss this event. Drop Carol a note at Carol@bookreporter.com and tell her about yourself, and she can send you the link to sign up. This is a trade-only event, so it's not open to the public. We will share the video and some materials with our readers later.
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, May 11th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books": Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between May 10th and June 7th, along with a few from July, that she would like to get on your radar.
Wednesday, May 11th at 4pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble for an Exclusive Barnes & Noble Member event as they welcome Chris Bohjalian for a live virtual discussion of his new book, THE LIONESS. He will be in conversation with Lisa Scottoline for this special event.
Wednesday, May 11th 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 Adriana Trigiani about her new novel, THE GOOD LEFT UNDONE. Robyn Carr, author of A FAMILY AFFAIR, will appear on the Aftershow.
Friday, May 13th at 7pm ET: Cuyahoga County Public Library: Sarah McCoy and Paula McLain will be in conversation about Sarah's latest novel, MUSTIQUE ISLAND.
Saturday, May 14th at 5pm ET: Adventures by the Book: Join Sarah McCoy, in conversation with fellow New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn, as they discuss Sarah’s glamorous and scandalous new novel, MUSTIQUE ISLAND.
Monday, May 16th at 3pm ET: Murder By The Book: Lorenzo Carcaterra will talk about his new mystery, NONNA MARIA AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING BRIDE. He will be in conversation with Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello.
Monday, May 16th at 6pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Linwood Barclay will discuss his new novel, TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY, a gripping psychological thriller about a formerly missing woman who has suddenly returned under mysterious circumstances.
Monday, May 16th at 7pm ET: Murder By The Book: B. A. Shapiro will talk about her latest book, METROPOLIS, a spellbinding and moving novel about what we hang on to, what we might need to let go, and how unexpected events can lead us to deeper truths. She will be in conversation with Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello.
Monday, May 16th at 8pm ET: Politics and Prose: Politics and Prose, in partnership with Books & Books and Harvard Book Store, will welcome Maggie Shipstead for a virtual event to celebrate her first collection of short stories, YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN 10A.
Tuesday, May 17th at 4pm ET: New York Public Library: Join K.D. Edwards as he celebrates the release of THE HOURGLASS THRONE, the climax of the first trilogy in his nine-book urban fantasy series, The Tarot Sequence.
Tuesday, May 17th at 7pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's will host a Virtual Beach Party as Sarah McCoy discusses her new book, MUSTIQUE ISLAND, with Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Special Contest for HELLTOWN
by Casey Sherman, Releasing July 12th
Enter to Win One of 25 Advance Copies
HELLTOWN by Casey Sherman transports us back to the turbulent late 1960s, revealing the secrets of notorious serial killer Tony Costa --- the most dangerous man on Cape Cod --- and unspooling the threads connecting Costa, Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer in the seaside city that played host to horrors unlike any ever seen before. The book doesn't release until July 12th, but we have 25 advance copies to give away to readers. To enter, please fill out this form by Friday, May 20th at noon ET.
HELLTOWN: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman (True Crime)
1969: The hippie scene is vibrant in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Long-haired teenagers roam the streets, strumming guitars and preaching about peace and love...and Tony Costa is at the center of it all. To a certain group of smitten young women, he is known as Sire --- the leader of their counter-culture movement, the charming man who speaks eloquently and hands out hallucinogenic drugs like candy. But beneath his benign persona lies a twisted and uncontrollable rage that threatens to break loose at any moment. Tony Costa is the most dangerous man on Cape Cod, and no one who crosses his path is safe.
When young women begin to disappear, Costa's natural charisma and good looks initially protect him from suspicion. But as the bodies are discovered, the police close in on him as the key suspect. Meanwhile, local writers Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer are locked in a desperate race to secure their legacies as great literary icons --- and they both set their sights on Tony Costa and the drug-soaked hippie culture that he embodies as their next promising subject, launching independent investigations that stoke the competitive fires between two of the greatest American writers.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read Casey Sherman's bio.
- Click here to connect with Casey Sherman on Twitter.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of May 9th in Hardcover
May 10th
CHILD ZERO by Chris Holm (Science Fiction/Thriller)
It began four years ago with a worldwide uptick of bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance soon roiled across the globe. Diseases long thought beaten came surging back. The death toll skyrocketed. Then New York City was ravaged by the most heinous act of bioterror the world had ever seen. Detective Jacob Gibson, who lost his wife in the 8/17 attack, is home caring for his sick daughter when his partner summons him to a sprawling shantytown in Central Park, the apparent site of a mass murder. Jake is startled to discover that, despite a life of abject squalor, the victims died in perfect health --- and his only hope of finding answers is a 12-year-old boy on the run from some very dangerous men.
Mulholland Books | 9780316295123
DECIMATE by Christopher Rice (Supernatural Thriller)
Claire Huntley and her brother, Poe, were on a midnight hike in Montana when the woods went wild. A blinding, devouring light and a rumbling pulse that blasted them off their feet left both kids with little memory of what happened. Fourteen years later, Claire, who has battled anxiety attacks since that fateful hike, wants to heal her relationship with her brother, which has been damaged by his years of addiction. But only hours before their reunion, Poe’s crowded passenger plane plunges into the Colorado mountains. No one survives the fiery crash. In the midst of her grief, Claire accepts her estranged father’s request to join him in Montana, where her anxiety attacks take on a new dimension.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542032742
FORBIDDEN CITY by Vanessa Hua (Historical Fiction)
On the eve of China’s Cultural Revolution and her 16th birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman’s opulent residence --- a forbidden city unto itself --- that she learns that the girls’ job is to dance with the Party elites. She gradually separates herself from the other recruits to become the Chairman’s confidante --- and paramour. When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor. But the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.
Ballantine Books | 9780399178818
HIDDEN PICTURES by Jason Rekulak (Supernatural Thriller)
Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Mallory immediately loves it and sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body. Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force. Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.
Flatiron Books | 9781250819345
THE HIGH SIERRA: A Love Story by Kim Stanley Robinson (Nature/Memoir)
Kim Stanley Robinson first ventured into the Sierra Nevada mountains during the summer of 1973. He returned from that encounter a changed man, awed by a landscape that made him feel as if he were simultaneously strolling through an art museum and scrambling on a jungle gym like an energized child. He has returned to the mountains throughout his life --- more than a hundred trips --- and has gathered a vast store of knowledge about them. THE HIGH SIERRA is his lavish celebration of this exceptional place and an exploration of what makes this span of mountains one of the most compelling places on Earth.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316593014
IN SCORING POSITION: 40 Years of a Baseball Love Affair by Bob Ryan and Bill Chuck (Sports)
Bob Ryan has scored every baseball game he's attended, at every level, since the start of the 1977 season. It's a deeply personal tradition still going strong at more than 1,400 games and counting. The tattered scorebooks he's filled are worn from age, travel and countless summer days, but their grids and scrawled symbols tell the stories of milestones, rivalries, rare historic achievements and more. IN SCORING POSITION captures the incomparable spirit of baseball, with its infinite possibilities and madcap anomalies. Ryan, alongside baseball historian and statistician Bill Chuck, has scoured his scorecard archives for the most singular events.
Triumph Books | 9781629379456
THE LAST WHITE ROSE: A Novel of Elizabeth of York by Alison Weir (Historical Fiction)
Elizabeth of York’s life is suddenly disrupted when her beloved father, King Edward IV, dies in the prime of life. Her uncle, the notorious Richard III, takes advantage of King Edward’s death to grab the throne and imprison Elizabeth’s two younger brothers, the rightful royal heirs. Forever afterward known as "the Princes in the Tower," the boys are never seen again. On the heels of this tragedy, Elizabeth is subjected to Richard’s overtures to make her his wife, further legitimizing his claim to the throne. She is saved by Henry Tudor, who challenges Richard and defeats him at the legendary Battle of Bosworth Field. Following his victory, Henry becomes king and asks Elizabeth to be his wife, the first queen of the Tudor line.
Ballantine Books | 9780593355039
THE LIONESS by Chris Bohjalian (Historical Thriller)
Tanzania, 1964. When A-list actress Katie Barstow and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision paradise. Their glamorous guests expect civilized adventure: fresh ice from the kerosene-powered ice maker, dinners of cooked gazelle meat, and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive. What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is this: a kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding their hostages into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts, and Katie prays for a simple thing: to see the sun rise one more time.
Doubleday | 9780385544825
MISS CHLOE: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison by A. J. Verdelle (Memoir)
Toni Morrison, born Chloe A Wofford, was a towering figure in the world of literature when she entered A.J. Verdelle’s life. Their literary friendship was a young writer’s dream --- simultaneously exhilarating, intimidating, fulfilling and challenging. Like many women friends, these two writers imagined and built a relationship that was responsive, inventive and engaged. MISS CHLOE powerfully situates the risks writers face and the freedom they find when they put Black women’s lives into words. Verdelle chronicles her grief at Morrison’s passing and finds comfort in Morrison’s astute advice --- wisdom Verdelle didn’t always recognize at the time.
Amistad | 9780063031661
THE MURDER RULE by Dervla McTiernan (Psychological Thriller)
First Rule: Make them like you. Second Rule: Make them need you. Third Rule: Make them pay. They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system. They think I’m working hard to impress them. They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row. They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.
William Morrow | 9780063042209
MUSTIQUE ISLAND by Sarah McCoy (Fiction)
Tucked into the southernmost curve of the Caribbean, Mustique is a private island that has become a haven for the wealthy and privileged. Its owner is the eccentric British playboy Colin Tennant, who is determined to turn this speck of white sand into a luxurious neo-colonial retreat for his rich friends and into a royal court in exile for the Queen’s rebellious sister, Princess Margaret. Willy May Michael, a former beauty queen from Texas, seeks out Mustique for its peaceful isolation. Determined to rebuild her life and her relationships with her two daughters, she constructs a fanciful white beach house across the island from Princess Margaret. But when Willy May’s daughters arrive, they discover that beneath its veneer of decadence, Mustique has a dark side.
William Morrow | 9780062984371
MY WIFE IS MISSING by D.J. Palmer (Domestic Thriller)
A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, and their two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they’ve been kidnapped. Michael’s frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that Natalie appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can’t tell the police --- the truth about his past. While untangling his deceptions might be the key to locating Natalie, Michael knows it also could be his undoing. To find his wife, he must now turn to the one person capable of exposing all that he’s been hiding.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250267887
OVERBOARD: A V.I. Warshawski Novel by Sara Paretsky (Mystery)
On her way home from an all-night surveillance job, V.I. Warshawski is led by her dogs on a mad chase that ends when they discover a badly injured teen hiding in the rocks along Lake Michigan. The girl only regains consciousness long enough to utter one enigmatic word. V.I. helps bring her to a hospital, but not long after, she vanishes before anyone can discover her identity. As V.I. attempts to find her, the detective uncovers an ugly consortium of Chicago powerbrokers and mobsters who are prepared to kill the girl. And now V.I.’s own life is in jeopardy as well.
William Morrow | 9780063010888
THE RAVAGED by Norman Reedus with Frank Bill (Fiction)
Jack spent his life amassing wealth, but after losing his family, he has no one to share it with. Alone with his demons and a backpack, he heads to South America, where people with nothing teach him what matters. After thrashing his dog-abusing boss, Hunter learns of his father's death in a mysterious fire. Biker buddies Nugget and Itch ride with him from North Carolina to California. Stories from his father's life help ease the struggles of small-town Americans. Hunter discovers a secret past. Seventeen-year-old Anne flees Tennessee after her older brother attacks her. She whacks him with a skillet and hops a freight to Alabama with her best friend. Living hand to mouth, they build friendships, uncovering something they never had: family.
Blackstone Publishing | 9781094166803
SIREN QUEEN by Nghi Vo (Historical Fantasy)
Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, Luli Wei knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill --- but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes --- even if that means becoming the monster herself.
Tordotcom | 9781250788832
SO HELP ME GOLF: Why We Love the Game by Rick Reilly (Sports)
This is the book Rick Reilly has been writing in the back of his head since he fell in love with the game of golf at 11 years old. He unpacks and explores all of the wonderful, maddening, heart-melting, heartbreaking, cool and captivating things about golf that make the game so utterly addictive. We meet the PGA Tour player who robbed banks by night to pay his motel bills, the golf club maker who takes weekly psychedelic trips, and the caddy who kept his loop even after an 11-year prison stint. We learn how a man on his third heart nearly won the U.S. Open, how a Vietnam POW saved his life playing 18 holes a day in his tiny cell, and about the course that's absolutely free.
Hachette Books | 9780306924934
THE SUMMER PLACE by Jennifer Weiner (Fiction)
When her 22-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is shocked. Headstrong Ruby has already set a date and spoken to her beloved safta, Sarah’s mother Veronica, about having the wedding at the family’s beach house in Cape Cod. Veronica is thrilled to be bringing the family together one last time before putting the big house on the market. But when the wedding day arrives, lovers are revealed as their true selves, misunderstandings take on a life of their own, and secrets come to light. There are confrontations and revelations that will touch each member of the extended family, ensuring that nothing will ever be the same.
Atria Books | 9781501133572
UNDELIVERED: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History by Jeff Nussbaum (History)
For almost every delivered speech, there exists an undelivered opposite. These "second speeches" provide alternative histories of what could have been if not for schedule changes, changes of heart, or momentous turns of events. In UNDELIVERED, political speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum presents the most notable speeches the public never heard, from Dwight Eisenhower’s apology for a D-Day failure to Richard Nixon’s refusal to resign the presidency, and even Hillary Clinton’s acceptance for a 2016 victory --- the latter never seen until now. Examining the content of these speeches and the context of the historic moments that almost came to be, Nussbaum considers not only what they tell us about the past but also what they can inform us about our present.
Flatiron Books | 9781250240705
On Sale the Week of May 9th in Paperback
May 10th
A BETTER MAN: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son by Michael Ian Black (Parenting/Memoir)
In a world in which the word masculinity now often goes hand in hand with toxic, comedian, actor and father Michael Ian Black offers up a way forward for boys, men and anyone who loves them. Part memoir, part advice book, and written as a heartfelt letter to his college-bound son, A BETTER MAN reveals Black’s own complicated relationship with his father, explores the damage and rising violence caused by the expectations placed on boys to “man up,” and searches for the best way to help young men be part of the solution, not the problem. “If we cannot allow ourselves vulnerability,” he writes, “how are we supposed to experience wonder, fear, tenderness?”
Algonquin Books | 9781643752044
THE BLACKTONGUE THIEF by Christopher Buehlman (Fantasy/Adventure)
Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark. Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants. Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.
Tor Books | 9781250799975
COUNTDOWN BIN LADEN: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice by Chris Wallace with Mitch Weiss (History)
On August 27, 2010, three CIA officers ask for a private meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta. During that secret session, they tell Panetta that agents have tracked a courier with deep Al Qaeda ties to a three-story house at the end of a dead-end street in Abbottabad, Pakistan. But they say it’s more than a house --- it’s a heavily protected fortress. Everyone understands that finally, after nearly a decade, maybe, just maybe, they’ve found the world’s most wanted man. In COUNTDOWN BIN LADEN, Chris Wallace delivers a thrilling new account of the final eight months of intelligence gathering, national security strategizing and meticulous military planning that leads to the climactic mission when SEAL Team Six closes in on its target.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982176532
GOD SPARE THE GIRLS by Kelsey McKinney (Fiction)
Luke Nolan has led the Hope congregation for more than a decade, while his wife and daughters have patiently upheld what it means to live righteously. Made famous by a viral sermon on purity co-written with his eldest daughter, Abigail, Luke is a spellbinding speaker. But his younger daughter, Caroline, has begun to notice the cracks in their comfortable life. She is certain that her perfect, pristine sister is about to marry the wrong man --- and Caroline has slid into sin with a boy she’s known her entire life, wondering why God would care so much about her virginity anyway. When it comes to light, five weeks before Abigail’s wedding, that Luke has been lying to his family, the entire Nolan clan falls into a tailspin.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063020269
THE GUIDE by Peter Heller (Thriller)
Kingfisher Lodge is known by locals as "Billionaire's Mile" and is locked behind a heavy gate. Sandwiched between barbed wire and a meadow with a sign that reads "Don't Get Shot!" the resort boasts boutique fishing at its finest. Safe from viruses that have plagued America for years, Kingfisher offers a respite for wealthy clients. Now it also promises a second chance for Jack, a return to normalcy after a young life filled with loss. When he is assigned to guide a well-known singer, his only job is to rig her line, carry her gear, and steer her to the best trout he can find. But then a human scream pierces the night, and Jack soon realizes that this idyllic fishing lodge may be merely a cover for a far more sinister operation.
Vintage | 9781984898968
HER HEART FOR A COMPASS by Sarah Ferguson (Historical Fiction)
Lady Margaret Montagu Scott, the second daughter of the Scottish Duke of Buccleuch, a close friend of the Queen, is expected to make an advantageous marriage. But Margaret is an impulsive and outspoken girl in a repressive society where women are caged in corsets and required to conform. When Lady Margaret’s parents arrange a society marriage for her, she tries to reconcile herself to the match. But shortly before her betrothal is announced, Margaret flees, leaving her parents to explain her sudden absence to an opulent ballroom stuffed with 200 distinguished guests. Banished from polite society, Margaret throws herself into charitable work and finds strength in a circle of female friends like herself --- women intent on breaking the mold, including Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise.
Avon | 9780062976536
HOUSE OF STICKS: A Memoir by Ly Tran (Memoir)
Ly Tran is just a toddler in 1993 when she and her family immigrate from a small town along the Mekong River in Vietnam to a two-bedroom railroad apartment in Queens. As they navigate this new landscape, Ly finds herself torn between two worlds. She knows she must honor her parents’ Buddhist faith and contribute to the family livelihood. But at school, she feels the mounting pressure to blend in. A growing inability to see the blackboard presents new challenges, especially when her father forbids her from getting glasses, calling her diagnosis of poor vision a government conspiracy. His frightening temper and paranoia leave an indelible mark on Ly’s sense of self. Who is she outside of everything her family expects of her?
Scribner | 9781501118821
HOW LUCKY by Will Leitch (Fiction)
Daniel leads a rich life in the university town of Athens, Georgia. He has a steady paycheck working for a regional airline and, for a few glorious days each fall, college football tailgates. He considers himself to be a mostly lucky guy --- despite the fact that he’s suffered from a debilitating disease since he was a small child, one that has left him unable to speak or to move without a wheelchair. Largely confined to his home, Daniel spends the hours he’s not online communicating with irate air travelers observing his neighborhood from his front porch. One young woman passes by so frequently that spotting her out the window has almost become part of his daily routine. Until the day he’s almost sure he sees her being kidnapped.
Harper Perennial | 9780063073050
IN THE COUNTRY OF OTHERS by Leila Slimani (Fiction)
After World War II, Mathilde leaves France for Morocco to be with her husband, whom she met while he was fighting for the French army. A spirited young woman, she now finds herself a farmer’s wife, her vitality sapped by the isolation, the harsh climate and the mistrust she inspires as a foreigner. But she refuses to be subjugated or confined to her role as mother of a growing family. As tensions mount between the Moroccans and the French colonists, Mathilde’s fierce desire for autonomy parallels her adopted country’s fight for independence.
Penguin Books | 9780143135982
KAGEN THE DAMNED by Jonathan Maberry (Dark Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Kagen Vale is the trusted and feared captain of the palace guard, charged with protection of the royal children of the Silver Empire. But one night, Kagen is drugged and the entire imperial family is killed, leaving the empire in ruins. Haunted and broken, Kagen is abandoned by his gods and damned forever. He becomes a wanderer, trying to take down as many of his enemies as possible while plotting to assassinate the usurper, the deadly Witch-king of Hakkia. While all around him, magic --- long banished from the world --- returns in strange and terrifying ways. To exact his vengeance, Kagen must venture into strange lands, battle bizarre and terrifying creatures, and gather allies for a suicide mission into the heart of the Witch-king’s empire.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250783974
KATHARINE PARR, THE SIXTH WIFE by Alison Weir (Historical Fiction)
Having sent his much-beloved but deceitful young wife Katheryn Howard to her beheading, King Henry fixes his lonely eyes on a more mature woman: 30-year-old, twice-widowed Katharine Parr. She, however, is in love with Sir Thomas Seymour, brother to the late Queen Jane. Aware of his rival, Henry sends him abroad, leaving Katharine no choice but to become Henry’s sixth queen in 1543. The king is no longer in any condition to father a child, but Katharine is content to mother his three children: Mary, Elizabeth, and the longed-for male heir, Edward. Four years into the marriage, Henry dies, leaving England’s throne to nine-year-old Edward, and Katharine's life takes a more complicated turn.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966655
THE LAST QUEEN: A Novel of Courage and Resistance by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Sharp-eyed, stubborn and passionate, Jindan was known for her beauty. When she caught the eye of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, she was elevated to royalty, becoming his youngest and last queen. When her young son unexpectedly inherited the throne, Jindan assumed the regency. She transformed herself from pampered wife to warrior ruler, determined to protect her people and her son’s birthright from the encroaching British Empire. Defying tradition, she stepped out of the zenana, cast aside the veil and conducted state business in public, inspiring her subjects in two wars. Her power and influence were so formidable that the British, fearing an uprising, robbed the rebel queen of everything she had, but nothing crushed her indomitable will.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063161870
THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (Fiction)
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’ words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans --- the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great-grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers --- Ailey carries Du Bois’ Problem on her shoulders. To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors --- Indigenous, Black and white --- in the deep South.
Harper Perennial | 9780062942951
MONKEY BOY by Francisco Goldman (Fiction)
In MONKEY BOY, Francisco Goldman’s “brilliantly constructed auto-fiction” (NPR), we meet Francisco Goldberg, a middle-aged writer grappling with the challenges of family and love, legacies of violence and war, and growing up as the son of immigrants --- a Guatemalan Catholic mother and a Russian Jewish father --- in a predominantly white, working-class Boston suburb. Told in an irresistibly funny, tender and passionate voice, this extraordinary portrait of family explores the pressures of living between worlds.
Grove Press | 9780802157683
THE RESISTANCE GIRL by Mandy Robotham (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Norway, 1942: War rages, and, under cover of darkness, Rumi Orlstad and her fellow resistance fighters smuggle British agents, fugitives and supplies across the North Sea into Nazi-occupied territory. One night, when he braves a storm to complete an ill-fated mission, Rumi’s fiancé is lost to the dangerous waters. Broken-hearted, she withdraws from the clandestine group, vowing never to let her loved ones put themselves in the line of fire again. But months later, Rumi stumbles across a Nazi secret that lays Hitler’s plans for Norway bare, and she knows she has no choice but to risk her life for her country once more.
Avon | 9780008523763
THE ROYAL SECRET by Andrew Taylor (Historical Thriller)
Two young girls plot a murder by witchcraft. Soon afterwards a government clerk dies painfully under mysterious circumstances. His colleague, James Marwood, is asked to investigate, but the task brings unexpected dangers. Meanwhile, architect Cat Hakesby is working for a merchant who lives on Slaughter Street, where the air smells of blood and a captive Barbary lion prowls the stables. Then a prestigious new commission arrives. Cat must design a Poultry House for the woman that the King loves most in all the world. Unbeknownst to all, at the heart of this lies a royal secret so explosive that it could not only rip apart England but change the entire face of Europe.
HarperCollins | 9780008325602
SIDNEY SHELDON’S THE SILENT WIDOW by Tilly Bagshawe (Thriller)
Charlotte Clancy, a young American au pair, vanishes without a trace in Mexico City. The case is left cold, but its legacy will be devastating. A decade later, Los Angeles is shaken by a spate of violent murders. Psychologist Nikki Roberts is the common link between the victims, her patients at the heart of this treacherous web. When someone makes an attempt on Nikki’s life, it’s clear she is a marked woman. With the police at a dead end, Nikki drafts in Derek Williams, a PI who isn’t afraid to put his hand into the hornet’s nest. Williams was thwarted in the notorious Charlotte Clancy case all those years ago, but what he unearths in LA --- and the mention of one name in particular --- leaves him cold, and takes him on a dangerous path into the past.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781643859613
THE SUMMER OF LOST AND FOUND by Mary Alice Monroe (Fiction)
The coming of spring usually means renewal, but for Linnea Rutledge, this spring is a season of challenge. Linnea faces another layoff, this time from the aquarium she adores, and her family’s finances, emotions and health teeter on the brink. To complicate matters, her new love interest, Gordon, struggles to return to the Isle of Palms from England. Meanwhile, her old flame, John, turns up from California and is quarantining next door. She tries to ignore him, but when he sends her plaintive notes in the form of paper airplanes, old sparks ignite. When Gordon at last reaches the island, Linnea wonders: Is it possible to love two men at the same time?
Gallery Books | 9781982148355
UNDER THE WAVE AT WAIMEA by Paul Theroux (Fiction)
Now in his 60s, big-wave surfer Joe Sharkey has passed his prime and is losing his “stoke.” The younger surfers around the breaks on the north shore of Oahu still idolize the Shark, but his sponsors are looking elsewhere. One night, while driving home from a bar after one too many, Joe accidentally kills a stranger near Waimea, a tragedy that sends his life out of control. As the repercussions of the accident spiral ever wider, Joe's devoted girlfriend, Olive, throws herself into uncovering the dead man’s identity and helping Joe find vitality and refuge in the waves again.
Mariner Books | 9780358697381
WALK IN MY COMBAT BOOTS: True Stories from America's Bravest Warriors by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, with Chris Mooney (Biography)
WALK IN MY COMBAT BOOTS is a powerful collection crafted from hundreds of original interviews by James Patterson and First Sergeant US Army (Ret.) Matt Eversmann, part of the Ranger unit portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down. These are the brutally honest stories usually only shared amongst comrades in arms. Here, in the voices of the men and women who have fought overseas from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, is a rare eye-opening look into what wearing the uniform, fighting in combat, losing friends and coming home is really like. Readers who next thank a military member for their service will finally have a true understanding of what that thanks is for.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538753149
On Sale the Week of May 16th in Hardcover
May 17th
ALL THE SEAS OF THE WORLD by Guy Gavriel Kay (Historical Fantasy)
On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast, a small ship sends two people ashore. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired by two of the most dangerous men alive to alter the balance of power in the world. If they succeed, the consequences will affect the destinies of empires, and lives both great and small. One of those arriving at that beach is a woman abducted by corsairs as a child and sold into years of servitude. Having escaped, she is trying to chart her own course --- and is bent upon revenge. Another is a seafaring merchant who still remembers being exiled as a child with his family from their home, for their faith, a moment that never leaves him.
Berkley | 9780593441046
BLOOMSBURY GIRLS by Natalie Jenner (Historical Fiction)
Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable 51 rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans. As they interact with various literary figures of the time --- Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (George Orwell's widow), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim and others --- these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250276698
THE CHERRY ROBBERS by Sarai Walker (Gothic Fiction)
Iris Chapel and her five elegant sisters, all of them heiresses to the Chapel firearms fortune, live cloistered in a lavish Victorian mansion. Neglected by both a distant, workaholic father and a mentally troubled mother --- who believes their home is haunted by the victims of Chapel weapons --- the sisters have grown up with only each other for company. They long to escape the eerie fairy tale of their childhood and move forward into the modern world, but for young women in 1950s Connecticut, the only way out is through marriage. Yet it soon becomes clear that for the Chapel sisters, marriage equals death. When the eldest sister walks down the aisle, tragedy strikes. This is just the beginning of a chain of disasters that will make each woman wonder if true love will kill her, too.
Harper | 9780358251873
EXIT STRATEGY by Linda L. Richards (Thriller)
Her assignments were always to kill someone. That’s what a hitman --- or hitwoman --- is paid to do, and that is what she does. Then comes a surprise assignment --- keep someone alive. She is hired to protect Virginia Martin, the stunning and brilliant chief technology officer of a hot startup with an environmentally important innovation that will change the world. She’s confused about the “why” of her new commission, but she addresses it with her usual skill and stealth, determined to keep the young CTO alive against the ever-increasing odds. The spirit of an assassin --- and her nameless dog --- permeates this struggle to help a young woman as powerful forces mount against her.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094226
IN THE BLOOD by Jack Carr (Political Thriller)
A woman boards a plane in the African country of Burkina Faso having just completed a targeted assassination for the state of Israel. Two minutes later, her plane is blown out of the sky. Over 6,000 miles away, former Navy SEAL James Reece watches the names and pictures of the victims on cable news. One face triggers a distant memory of a Mossad operative attached to the CIA years earlier in Iraq --- a woman with ties to the intelligence services of two nations, a woman Reece thought he would never see again. Reece enlists friends new and old across the globe to track down her killer, unaware that he may be walking into a deadly trap.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982181659
JUST LIKE MOTHER by Anne Heltzel (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult in which they were raised. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything --- and everyone --- at a safe distance. When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city --- and the cousins’ increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250787514
THE LOST SUMMERS OF NEWPORT by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White (Historical Mystery)
From the New York Times bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White comes a novel of money and secrets set among the famous summer mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, spanning over a century from the Gilded Age to the present day.
William Morrow | 9780063040748
METROPOLIS by B. A. Shapiro (Psychological Thriller)
Six people, six secrets, six different backgrounds. They would never have met if not for their connection to the Metropolis Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When someone falls down an elevator shaft at the facility, each becomes caught up in an intensifying chain of events. We meet Serge, an unstable but brilliant street photographer; Marta, an undocumented immigrant finishing her dissertation and hiding from ICE; Liddy, an abused wife and mother, who recreates her children’s bedroom in her unit; Jason, a former corporate lawyer now practicing in the facility; Rose, the office manager, who takes illegal kickbacks to let renters live in the building; and Zach, the building’s owner and an ex-drug dealer, who scans Serge’s photos as he searches for clues to the accident. But was it an accident?
Algonquin Books | 9781616209582
MOTHER NOISE: A Memoir by Cindy House (Memoir)
MOTHER NOISE opens with Cindy House, 20 years into recovery after a heroin addiction, grappling with how to tell her nine-year-old son about her past. She wants him to learn this history from her, not anyone else, but she worries about the effect this truth may have on him. Told in essays and graphic narrative shorts, this is a stunning memoir that delves deep into our responsibilities as parents while celebrating the moments of grace and generosity that mark a true friendship --- in this case, her benefactor and champion through the years, David Sedaris.
Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781982168759
MURDER, SHE WROTE: KILLER ON THE COURT by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
Jessica Fletcher is delighted when her nephew, Grady, invites her to spend a few days with his family in an oceanside New York bungalow. She packs her bags and heads down to the city, ready to spend some quality time with Grady, his wife, Donna, and their young son, Frank. But the morning after Jessica’s arrival, Donna finds her boss dead on a tennis court, and Jessica’s dreams of a relaxing visit are quashed. Everyone in the small beachside community is a suspect, and the local authorities --- headed by an old colleague of Cabot Cove sheriff Mort Metzger --- have asked that no one leave town. Will Jessica be able find a killer and salvage the rest of her trip?
Berkley | 9780593333655
MY SUMMER DARLINGS by May Cobb (Psychological Thriller)
Jen Hansen, Kittie Spears and Cynthia Nichols have been friends since childhood. They are now approaching 40 and bond over the heartache of their own encroaching middle age and raising ungrateful teens. Then Will Harding comes to town, moving into one of the neighborhood’s grandest homes. He’s a source of fascination for Jen, Kittie and Cynthia, but none of them are ready for the way Will disrupts their lives. As Will grows closer with each of the women, their fascination twists into obsession, threatening their friendships and their families. When he abruptly pulls away, each woman scrambles to discover the source of his affection. But what they’ll uncover is far more sinister and deadly than any of them ever could have imagined.
Berkley | 9780593101162
NOTES ON YOUR SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE by Alison Espach (Fiction)
For much of her life, Sally Holt has been mystified by the things her older sister, Kathy, seems to have been born knowing. Kathy has answers for all of Sally’s questions about life, love and Billy Barnes, a rising senior and local basketball star who mans the concession stand at the town pool. The girls have been fascinated by Billy ever since he jumped off the roof in elementary school, but Billy has never shown much interest in them until the summer before Sally begins eighth grade. Sally spends much of that summer at the pool, watching in confusion and excitement as her sister falls deeper in love with Billy --- until a tragedy leaves Sally’s life forever intertwined with his.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250823144
THE PERFECT GOLDEN CIRCLE by Benjamin Myers (Fiction)
Under cover of darkness, two very different men --- traumatized ex-soldier Calvert, and affable and chaotic Redbone --- traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns. As the summer wears on, and their designs grow ever more ambitious, they find that their work has become a cult international sensation --- and that an unlikely and beautiful friendship has taken root as the wheat ripens from green to gold. But as harvest-time beckons --- and as media and the authorities begin to take too much interest in their work --- Calvert and Redbone have to race against time to finish the most stunning and original crop circle ever conceived: the Honeycomb Double Helix.
Melville House | 9781612199580
RAZZMATAZZ by Christopher Moore (Historical Fiction/Satire)
San Francisco, 1947. Bartender Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin and the rest of the Cookie’s Coffee Irregulars --- a ragtag bunch of working mugs last seen in NOIR --- are on the hustle. They’re trying to open a driving school; shanghai an abusive Swedish stevedore; get Mable, the local madam, and her girls to a Christmas party at the State Hospital without alerting the overzealous head of the SFPD vice squad --- all while Sammy’s girlfriend, Stilton (aka the Cheese), and her “Wendy the Welder” gal pals are using their wartime shipbuilding skills on a secret project that might be attracting the attention of some government Men in Black. And someone is murdering the city’s drag kings. Club owner Jimmy Vasco is sure she’s next on the list and wants Sammy to find the killer.
William Morrow | 9780062434128
RIVER OF THE GODS: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard (History)
For millennia, the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe --- and extend their colonial empires. Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke 29 languages and was a decorated soldier. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark. From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness and constant setbacks.
Doubleday | 9780385543101
SOMETHING WILDER by Christina Lauren (Romantic Comedy)
Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession…or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now she uses Duke’s coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn’t leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and definitely not enough to deal with the sight of the man she once loved walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails.
Gallery Books | 9781982173401
THE STARDUST THIEF by Chelsea Abdullah (Fantasy/Adventure)
Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant, a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land --- at the cost of sacrificing all jinn. With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan's oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen and confront a malicious killer from Loulie's past.
Orbit | 9780316368766
TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY by Linwood Barclay (Psychological Thriller)
One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most everyone assumed Andy had gotten away with murder, but the police could never build a strong case against him. Six years later, Andy has finally put his life back together. He sold the house he once shared with Brie and moved away. To tell the truth, he wasn’t sad to hear that the old place was razed and a new house built on the site. One day, a woman shows up at his old address, screaming, “Where’s my house? What’s happened to my house?” And then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the woman --- who bears a striking resemblance to Brie --- is gone. The police are notified, and old questions --- and dark suspicions --- resurface.
William Morrow | 9780063035133
THIS TIME TOMORROW by Emma Straub (Fiction)
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status and her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning, she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush --- it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?
Riverhead Books | 9780525539001
THRILL OF THE HUNT by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery)
It’s the start of fox-hunting season, and “Sister” Jane Arnold is training a new generation of hounds in eager anticipation of Opening Hunt. But before they make it to that exciting day, several members of the hunt club receive ominous videos in which they appear to be doing scandalous, career-ending deeds. The videos are doctored, but does it matter? The unknown blackmailer promises to publish the clips if they don’t get paid, and even the most upstanding citizen can be brought down by the court of public opinion. While Sister and her friends try to unmask the dastardly mind behind the videos, mysteries abound in their beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain town home.
Ballantine Books | 9780593357606
WITH PREJUDICE by Robin Peguero (Legal Thriller)
Earl Thomas, a straight-laced taxman with his fair share of police encounters, is the begrudging foreperson in a high-stakes trial in Miami. Laura Hurtado-Perez is a physician whose unassuming manner conceals a private pain. Joseph Cole is the founder of his local neighborhood watch, unduly obsessed with the families around him. Along with four others, these jurors of varying ages and walks of life whose paths likely never would have crossed otherwise must come together to make one of the most important decisions of their lives.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538706282
YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN 10A: Stories by Maggie Shipstead (Fiction/Short Stories)
From the Booker Prize nominee and New York Times bestselling author of GREAT CIRCLE comes a piercing, irresistible first collection of short stories exquisite in their craft and audacious in their range. A love triangle plays out over decades on a Montana dude ranch. A hurdler and a gymnast spend a single night together in the Olympic village. Mistakes and mysteries weave an intangible web around an old man’s deathbed in Paris, connecting disparate destinies. On the slopes of an unfinished ski resort, a young woman searches for her vanished lover. A couple’s Romanian honeymoon goes ominously awry, and, in the mesmerizing title story, a former child actress breaks with her life in a Hollywood cult.
Knopf | 9780525656999
On Sale the Week of May 16th in Paperback
May 17th
ADULT ASSEMBLY REQUIRED by Abbi Waxman (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Laura Costello moves to Los Angeles, trying to escape an overprotective family and the haunting memories of a terrible accident, she doesn’t expect to be homeless after a week. (She’s pretty sure she didn’t start that fire, right?) She also doesn't expect to find herself adopted by a rogue bookseller, installed in a lovely but completely illegal boardinghouse, or challenged to save a losing trivia team from ignominy. But that’s what happens. Add a regretful landlady, a gorgeous housemate and an ex-boyfriend determined to put himself back in the running, and you’ll see why Laura isn’t really sure she’s cut out for this adulting thing. Luckily for her, her new friends Nina, Polly and Impossibly Handsome Bob aren’t sure either. But maybe if they put their heads (and hearts) together, they’ll be able to make it work.
Berkley | 9780593198766
BEACH HOUSE SUMMER by Sarah Morgan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Joanna Whitman's famous ex-husband dies in a car accident, she doesn't know what to feel. Their dysfunctional marriage held more painful secrets than she cares to remember. But when she discovers that the young woman with him in the crash is pregnant, Joanna feels compelled to act. Ashley Blake can't believe it when Joanna shows up in her hospital room and suggests they hide away at her beach house on a sleepy stretch of California coast. Joanna should be hating her, not helping her. But alone and pregnant, Ashley can't turn down Joanna's offer. Yet she knows that if Joanna ever found out the real reason Ashley was in that car, their tentative bond would shatter instantly.
HQN | 9781335462824
BETTER, NOT BITTER: The Power of Hope and Living on Purpose by Yusef Salaam (Memoir)
During his seven years of wrongful incarceration as one of the Central Park Five, Yusef Salaam gained a spiritual perspective on life, realizing that we are all “born on purpose, with a purpose.” BETTER, NOT BITTER is the inspirational story of a young man growing up in central Harlem in the '80s, the failure of America's criminal justice system, of being vilified by a nation. But during his years of incarceration, Yusef discovered the power of art and faith, and of holding on to the person you know you are, which gave him the strength to survive, and helped him through reentry and exoneration. Yusef's journey inspires us to accept our own path, to discover our own sense of purpose. His intimate insights help unpack the racist design of systems built for profit and oppression of Black and Brown people.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538704998
THE BOMBAY PRINCE: A Mystery of 1920s India by Sujata Massey (Historical Mystery)
November 1921. Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in Bombay to begin a four-month tour. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and Bombay solicitor Perveen Mistry isn’t surprised when local unrest over the royal arrival spirals into riots. But she’s horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an 18-year-old female Parsi student, who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince’s grand procession is passing by her college. Freny had come for a legal consultation just days before her death, and what she confided makes Perveen suspicious that her death was not an accident
Soho Crime | 9781641293501
DEAD AGAINST HER by Melinda Leigh (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Called to an isolated farm to check on an elderly widow, Sheriff Bree Taggert finds a brutal double homicide. One of the victims is Eugene Oscar, the bitter and corrupt former deputy she recently forced out of the department. Working with criminal investigator Matt Flynn, Bree discovers that she isn’t the only one who had a troubling history with Eugene. But someone doesn’t want Bree digging up the past. She becomes the target of a stranger’s sick and devious campaign calculated to destroy her reputation, career, family and new relationship with Matt. To make matters worse, she’s the prime suspect in Eugene’s murder. When her chief deputy goes missing while investigating the case, Bree refuses to back down.
Montlake | 9781542030625
THE DEVIL MAY DANCE by Jake Tapper (Historical/Political Thriller)
Attorney General Robert Kennedy needs Charlie and Margaret Marder to look into a potential threat not only to the presidency, but to the security of the United States itself. At the center of their investigation is Frank Sinatra, a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and a rumored mob crony, whom Charlie and Margaret must befriend to get the inside scoop. Drinks by the pool at the Sands and late-night adventures with the Rat Pack soon lead to a body in the trunk of their car. As the Academy Awards loom, and someone near and dear to Margaret goes missing, Charlie and Margaret find that the clock is not only ticking but running out. Someone out there knows what they’ve uncovered and can’t let them leave alive.
Back Bay Books | 9780316530248
THE EMMA PROJECT by Sonali Dev (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Vansh Raje is handsome and rich enough to spend all his time on missions to make the world a better place. Knightlina (Naina) Kohli has just gotten out of a 10-year-long fake relationship with Vansh’s brother and wants only one thing from her life…fine, two things. One, to have nothing to do with the unfairly blessed Raje family ever again. Two, to bring economic independence to millions of women in South Asia through her microfinance foundation and prove her father wrong about, well, everything. Just when Naina’s dream is about to come to fruition, Vansh shows up with his misguided Emma Project. And suddenly she’s fighting him for funding and wondering if a friends-with-benefits arrangement that’s as toe-curlingly hot as it is fun is worth risking her life’s work for.
Avon | 9780063051843
FALLING by T. J. Newman (Thriller)
You just boarded a flight to New York. There are 143 other passengers onboard. What you don’t know is that 30 minutes before the flight, your pilot’s family was kidnapped. For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die. The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane. Enjoy the flight.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982177898
FROM BAD TO CURSED: A Witches of Thistle Grove Novel by Lana Harper (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Wild child Isidora Avramov is a thrill chaser and an adept demon summoner. When she’s not designing costumes and new storylines for the Arcane Emporium’s haunted house, she’s nursing a secret, conflicted dream of ditching her family’s witchy business to become an indie fashion designer in her own right. But when someone starts sabotaging the celebrations leading up to this year’s Beltane festival with dark, dangerous magic, a member of the rival Thorn family gets badly hurt --- throwing immediate suspicion on the Avramovs. To clear the Avramov name and step up for her family when they need her the most, Issa agrees to serve as a co-investigator, helping none other than Rowan Thorn get to the bottom of things.
Berkley | 9780593336083
THE GREAT MISTAKE by Jonathan Lee (Historical Fiction)
Andrew Haswell Green is dead, shot at the venerable age of 83, when he thought life could hold no more surprises. The killing --- on Park Avenue in broad daylight, on Friday the 13th --- shook the city. Born to a struggling farmer, Green was a self-made man without whom there would be no Central Park, no Metropolitan Museum of Art, no Museum of Natural History, no New York Public Library. But Green had a secret, a life locked within him that now, in the hour of his death, may finally break free.
Vintage | 9780593081013
THE HOURGLASS THRONE: The Tarot Sequence, Book Three by K.D. Edwards (Urban Fantasy/Adventure)
Paperback Original
As Rune Saint John grapples with the challenges of assuming the Sun Throne, a powerful barrier appears around New Atlantis’s famed rejuvenation center. Though Rune and his lifelong bodyguard, Brand, are tasked with investigating the mysterious barrier, Rune is also busy settling into his new life at court. Claiming his father’s throne has irrevocably thrown him into the precarious world of political deception, he must secure relationships with newfound allies in time to keep his growing found family safe. But he and Brand soon discover that the power behind the barrier holds a much more insidious, far-reaching threat to his family, to his people and to the world.
Pyr | 9781645060550
THE LOST BOYS OF MONTAUK: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind by Amanda M. Fairbanks (Biography)
In March of 1984, the commercial fishing boat Wind Blown left Montauk Harbor on what should have been a routine offshore voyage. Its captain, a married father of three young boys, was the boat’s owner and leader of the four-man crew, which included two locals and the blue-blooded son of a well-to-do summer family. After a week at sea, the weather suddenly turned, and the foursome collided with a nor’easter. They soon found themselves in the fight of their lives. Tragically, it was a fight they lost. Neither the boat nor the bodies of the men were ever recovered. Amanda M. Fairbanks examines the profound shift of Montauk from a working-class village to a playground for the ultra-wealthy, seeking out the reasons that an event more than three decades old remains so startlingly vivid in people’s minds.
Gallery Books | 9781982103248
MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Fiction)
Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas. The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention. By midnight, the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.
Ballantine Books | 9781524798673
THE NIGHT ALWAYS COMES by Willy Vlautin (Fiction)
Barely 30, Lynette is exhausted. Saddled with bad credit and juggling multiple jobs, some illegally, she’s been diligently working to buy the house she lives in with her mother and developmentally disabled brother, Kenny. Portland’s housing prices have nearly quadrupled in 15 years, and the owner is giving them a good deal. Lynette knows it’s their last best chance to own their own home --- and obtain the security they’ve never had. While she has enough for the down payment, she needs her mother to cover the rest of the asking price. But a week before they’re set to sign the loan papers, her mother gets cold feet and reneges on her promise, pushing Lynette to her limits to find the money they need.
Harper Perennial | 9780063035096
OLYMPUS, TEXAS by Stacey Swann (Fiction)
The Briscoe family is once again the talk of their small town when March returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother's wife. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms. Her husband's own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change? Within days of March's arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold them together might be exactly what drag them all down.
Anchor | 9781984897404
THE RED BOOK: A Billy Harney Thriller by James Patterson and David Ellis (Thriller)
When a drive-by shooting on Chicago's west side turns political, Detective Billy Harney leads the way to a quick solve. But his instincts --- his father was once chief of detectives, and his twin sister, Patti, is also on the force --- run deep. As a population hungry for justice threatens to riot, he realizes that the three known victims are hardly the only casualties. When Harney starts asking questions about who's to blame, the easy answers prove to be the wrong ones. On the flip side, the less he seems to know, the longer he can keep his clandestine investigation going…until Harney's quest to expose the evil that's rotting the city from the inside out takes him to the one place he vowed never to return: his own troubled past.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538752814
SWIMMING BACK TO TROUT RIVER by Linda Rui Feng (Fiction)
In the summer of 1986 in a small Chinese village, 10-year-old Junie receives a momentous letter from her parents, who had left for America years ago: her father promises to return home and collect her by her 12th birthday. What Junie doesn’t know is that her parents, Momo and Cassia, are newly estranged from one another in their adopted country, each holding close private tragedies and histories from the tumultuous years of their youth during China’s Cultural Revolution. In order for Momo to fulfill his promise, he must make one last desperate attempt to reunite all three members of the family before Junie’s birthday --- even if it means bringing painful family secrets to light.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982129415
WALKING THROUGH NEEDLES by Heather Levy (Psychological Thriller)
Like any young girl, Sam Mayfair developed infatuations and lust --- but her desires were always tinged with darkness. Then, when Sam was 16, her life was shattered by an abuser close to her. And she made one shocking decision whose ramifications would reverberate throughout her life. Now, 15 years later, Sam learns that her abuser has been murdered. But when her stepbrother, Eric, becomes the prime suspect, Sam is flung back into the hell of her rural Oklahoma childhood. As Sam tries to help exonerate Eric, she must hide terrifying truths of their past from investigators. Yet as details of the murder unravel, Sam quickly learns that some people, including herself, will do anything to keep their secrets buried deep.
Polis Books | 9781951709877
WATERLOG: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain by Roger Deakin (Nature/Memoir)
In an attempt to discover his island nation from a new perspective, Roger Deakin embarks from his home in Suffolk to swim Britain --- the seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, pools, streams, lochs, moats and quarries. Through the watery capillary network that braids itself throughout the country, Deakin immerses himself in the natural habitats of fish, amphibians, mammals and birds. And as he navigates towns, private property, and sometimes dangerous waters and inclement weather, Deakin finds himself in precarious situations: he’s detained by bailiffs in Winchester, intercepted by the coast guard at the mouth of a river, and mistaken for a dead body on a beach. The result of this surprising journey is a deep dive into modern Britain, especially its wild places.
Tin House Books | 9781953534033
WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW by Susan Furlong (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Mona Ellison is living a dream life. But when her son becomes entangled with the wrong crowd, ditches college plans and runs away from home for a life of partying, Mona is upset. He'll be back as soon as his money runs dry. At least that's what she tells her friends. Only she suspects something different. Then the police knock on Mona's door. A young girl has turned up dead, and her missing son is the prime suspect. Determined to reunite with her son and prove his innocence, Mona embarks on a search that puts her on a twisty trail of social media clues and a rollercoaster ride of lies and betrayal until she lands on a truth that changes her perception of everything.
Seventh Street Books | 9781645060406
WHY PEACOCKS?: An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World's Most Magnificent Bird by Sean Flynn (Nature/Memoir)
When Sean Flynn’s neighbor in North Carolina texted “Any chance you guys want a peacock? No kidding!” he stared bewilderedly at his phone. He had never considered if he wanted a peacock. But as an award-winning magazine writer, this kind of mystery intrigued him. So he, his wife and their two young sons became the owners of not one but three charming yet fickle birds: Carl, Ethel and Mr. Pickle. In WHY PEACOCKS?, Flynn chronicles his hilarious and heartwarming first year as a peacock owner, from struggling to build a pen to assisting the local bird doctor in surgery to triumphantly watching a peahen lay her first egg.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982101084
THE WINDOW SEAT: Notes from a Life in Motion by Aminatta Forna (Essays)
In this collection of new and previously published essays, Aminatta Forna writes intimately about displacement, trauma and memory, love, and how we coexist and encroach on the non-human world. Movement is a constant here. In the title piece, “The Window Seat,” she reveals the unexpected enchantments of commercial air travel. In “The Last Vet,” time spent shadowing Dr. Jalloh, the only veterinarian in Sierra Leone, as he works with the street dogs of Freetown, becomes a meditation on what a society’s treatment of animals tells us about its principles. In “Crossroads,” Forna examines race in America from an African perspective, and in “Power Walking,” she describes what it means to walk in the world in a Black woman’s body.
Grove Press | 9780802159861
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