August 16, 2022

August 16, 2022

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 15th and August 22nd 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 Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight featuring the newly released WIDOWLAND. Set in an alternative history, C. J. Carey's thrilling feminist dystopian novel --- perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE --- terrifyingly imagines what a British alliance with Germany would look like if the Nazis had won World War II.

We hosted this month’s “Bookaccino Live” preview event last Wednesday afternoon. Carol talked about 22 books releasing between now and September 6th, along with eight from October, that she wanted to get on your radar. You can watch it here and see a list of the featured titles here.

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

As many book and author events are still 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, August 17th at 3pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's, in partnership with Book Passage, Books, Inc., Copperfield’s and Skylight Books, will host Julian Barnes as he discusses his new book, ELIZABETH FINCH.

Monday, August 22nd at 3pm ET: Murder By The Book: Alice Feeney will talk about her new novel, DAISY DARKER, with Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello. A family reunion leads to murder in this delightfully twisty and atmospheric thriller.

Monday, August 22nd at 4pm ET: Book Passage: Karin Slaughter will be in conversation with Cara Black about her new thriller, GIRL, FORGOTTEN, which finds newly minted US Marshal Andrea Oliver investigating a cold case with links to her father’s past. 

Monday, August 22nd at 7pm ET: Murder By The Book: William Kent Krueger will talk about his new Cork O'Connor mystery, FOX CREEK, with Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello. This time, Cork is in a race against time to save his wife, a mysterious stranger and an Ojibwe healer from bloodthirsty mercenaries.

Tuesday, August 23rd at 12pm ET: Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites: Megan Miranda will join members of the Simon & Schuster team to discuss her new novel, THE LAST TO VANISH, which is August's pick for S&S's Book Club Favorites.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Featuring
WIDOWLAND by C. J. Carey

On Sale the Week of August 15th in Hardcover

August 15th

DIANA, WILLIAM, AND HARRY: The Heartbreaking Story of a Princess and Mother by James Patterson and Chris Mooney (Biography)
From the moments William and Harry are born into the House of Windsor, they become their young mother’s whole world. Diana is faced with a seemingly impossible challenge: one son destined to be King of England and another determined to find his own way. She teaches them to honor royal tradition, even while daring to break it. “Sometimes I’d like a time machine…” Diana says as William and Harry grow up, never imagining they’d have less than a lifetime together. Even after she’s gone, her sons follow their mother’s lead --- and her heart. As the years pass and William and Harry grow into adulthood and form families of their own, they carry on Diana’s name, her likeness and her incomparable spirit.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780759554221

August 16th

ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE by Ashley Flowers (Mystery/Thriller)
Two decades ago, six-year-old January Jacobs was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Her killer was never brought to justice. Margot Davies, her next-door neighbor, is now a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the feeling that she could've suffered the same fate as January. When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he's diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and solve January’s murder once and for all. But the police, Natalie’s family and the townspeople all seem to be hiding something.
Bantam | 9780593496473

AMY & LAN by Sadie Jones (Fiction)
Amy Connell and Lan Honey are having the best childhood ever. They live on a 78-acre farm in the South West of England, with sisters and brothers, other kids, chickens, goats, three dogs and even a calf, called Gabriella Christmas. “Honeys in the Farmhouse, Connells in the Cowhouse, Hodges in the Carthouse…” The three sets of parents are best friends who came to Frith from the city, and are learning, year after year, how to farm the land. Free and unsupervised, Amy and Lan play with axes and climb on haystacks, but there is grownup danger at Frith they don't see. It's Gail, Lan's mother, and Adam, Amy's father, who should be more careful. They should learn what kids know: never to play with fire.
Harper | 9780063240902

THE BLAME GAME by Sandie Jones (Psychological Thriller)
As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi has found it hard to avoid becoming overly invested in her clients’ lives. But after helping Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, Naomi worries that she’s taken things too far. Then Jacob goes missing, and her files on him vanish. But as the police start asking questions about Jacob, Naomi’s own dark past emerges. And as the truth comes to light, it seems that it’s not just her clients who are in danger.
Minotaur Books | 9781250836908

THE CHALLENGE by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Fishtail, Montana, is home to Anne and Pitt Pollock, who own the successful Pollock ranch. The sprawling foothills of the Beartooth Mountains surround the town, overlooking the Pollocks’ property and the nearby ranch belonging to Bill and Pattie Brown. The two couples have known each other since childhood. Their sons, Peter Pollock and Matt Brown, are also the best of friends. When they and two other local kids meet new girl Juliet Marshall, the five of them are soon inseparable. But one afternoon, their latest adventure takes a dangerous turn when they find themselves trapped on Granite Peak. In the aftermath of this fateful event, devastating secrets are revealed, new love appears on the horizon, and families are forced to reconsider what they once held dear.
Delacorte Press | 9781984821614

ELIZABETH FINCH by Julian Barnes (Fiction)
Julian Barnes’ novel of platonic unrequited love springs into being around the singular character of the stoic, exacting Professor Elizabeth Finch. Neil, the narrator, takes her class “Culture and Civilisation,” taught not for undergraduates but for adults of all ages. We are drawn into his intellectual crush on this private, withholding yet commanding woman. While other personal relationships and even his family drift from Neil’s grasp, Elizabeth’s application of her material to the matter of daily living remains important to him, even after her death, in a way that nothing else does.
Knopf | 9780593535431

FIRESTORM: A Garrett Kohl Novel by Taylor Moore (Thriller/Adventure)
Special Agent Garrett Kohl has just taken down a dangerous and deadly cartel boss when he finds trouble brewing back on his family’s homestead. A powerful energy consortium, Talon Corporation, has started an aggressive mining operation that threatens to destroy Garrett’s land, his family’s way of life, and everything they hold dear. To achieve its goals, Talon is flouting the law, bribing public officials, and meeting anyone who challenges it with physical violence. When the Kohls themselves are attacked by Talon guards, Garrett goes on the offensive, embarking on an investigation that he hopes will rid the Texas High Plains of the intruders once and for all.
William Morrow | 9780063066557

A HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS by Anna DeForest (Fiction)
A young woman puts on a white coat for her first day as a student doctor. So begins A HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS, which follows our unnamed narrator through cadaver dissection, surgical rotation, difficult births, sudden deaths and a budding relationship with a seminarian. In the troubled world of the hospital, where the language of blood tests and organ systems so often hides the heart of the matter, she works her way from one bed to another --- from a man dying of substance use and tuberculosis, to a child in pain crisis, to a young woman, fading from confusion to aphasia to death. The long hours and heartrending work begin to blur the lines between her new life as a physician and the lifelong traumas she has fled.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316381062

THE HOUSEKEEPER by Joy Fielding (Domestic Thriller)
Jodi Bishop is a top-notch real estate agent. Her husband, Harrison, is a middling writer who resents his wife’s success. Jodi’s father, Vic, is a very controlling man. His wife, Audrey, was herself no shrinking violet. But things changed when Audrey developed Parkinson’s 10 years ago, and now Jodi starts interviewing housekeepers to help care for her parents. She settles on Elyse Woodley, an energetic and attractive widow who seems perfect for the job. Jodi is pleased to have an ally, someone she can talk to and occasionally even confide in. Until Elyse shuts Jodi out. And Audrey’s condition worsens --- rapidly. Who is this woman suddenly wearing her mother’s jewelry? What is she after? And how far will she go to get it?
Ballantine Books | 9780593158920

IN THE PINES by Kendra Elliot (Mystery/Thriller)
A national treasure hunt with a $2 million prize has driven obsessed fortune seekers to overrun the small town of Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. The hunt’s cryptic clues and the lure of wealth have exposed the desperate side of human greed. Police chief Truman Daly craves peace in his town but has a murder on his hands instead. Now the big prize isn’t the only thing hiding in the pines. So is a killer. When a young boy walks into the local café and claims his mother and baby sister have been missing for weeks, FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick investigates and exposes a disturbing twist in his story. Deep family secrets and lies that started 60 years ago have burst into the present, bringing with them deadly consequences.
Montlake | 9781542029711

THE LAST HOUSEWIFE by Ashley Winstead (Psychological Thriller)
While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works. By senior year, Shay and her friend, Laurel, were the only ones who managed to escape. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel's death eight years later --- delivered by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader --- she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive. Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend's life, she's pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728229911

LINE OF DARKNESS: A Colleen Hayes Mystery by Max Tomlinson (Mystery)
When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been. Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094523

OVERKILL by Sandra Brown (Thriller)
Former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Zach Bridger’s ex-wife, Rebecca Pratt, has been placed on life support after a violent assault. Four years later, her attacker, Eban --- the scion of a wealthy family in Atlanta --- gets an early release from prison. State prosecutor Kate Lennon is determined to bring him to justice. Rebecca’s parents have kept her alive all these years, but if she were to die, Eban could be retried on a new charge: murder. It isn’t lost on Zach that in order for Eban to be charged with Rebecca’s murder, Zach must actually be the one to kill her. Eban, realizing the jeopardy he’s in, plots to make certain that neither Zach nor Kate lives to see the death of Rebecca --- and the end of his freedom.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538752012

RAISING LAZARUS: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America's Overdose Crisis by Beth Macy (Business & Economics/Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology)
Nearly a decade into the second wave of America's overdose crisis, pharmaceutical companies have yet to answer for the harms they created. As pending court battles against opioid makers, distributors and retailers drag on, addiction rates have soared to record-breaking levels during the COVID pandemic. Meanwhile, there is scant consensus between law enforcement and medical leaders, nor an understanding of how to truly scale the programs that are out there, working at the ragged edge of capacity and actually saving lives. In RAISING LAZARUS, Beth Macy takes us into the country’s hardest hit places to witness the devastating personal costs that one-third of America's families are now being forced to shoulder.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316430227

RUN TIME by Catherine Ryan Howard (Psychological Thriller)
Feeling her stardom fading, struggling soap actress Adele Rafferty is ready to give up on her dreams when she gets a last-minute offer to play the lead in an upcoming horror film, Final Draft. Could this be her big break? Will she have redemption for what happened the last time she was on a film set? Adele doesn’t think twice before signing on the dotted line. Adele quickly makes her way to the set, deep into the isolated and wintry woods of West Cork, Ireland, miles away from civilization and cell service. When real life on the set starts to somehow mirror the sinister events portrayed in the script, Adele fears the real horror lies off the page. Isolated and unsure who in the crew she can trust, is there anywhere or any time left to run?
Blackstone Publishing | 9781982694685

STORIES FROM THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS by Sidik Fofana (Fiction/Short Stories)
Each short story in Sidik Fofana’s electrifying collection follows a tenant in the Banneker Homes, a low-income high-rise in Harlem where gentrification weighs on everyone’s mind. There's Swan, whose excitement about his friend’s release from prison jeopardizes the life he’s been trying to lead. Mimi hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe’s and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, a former gymnast with a good education, wishes she could leave Banneker for good but can’t seem to escape the building’s gravitational pull. We root for these characters and more as they weave in and out of each other’s lives, endeavoring to escape from their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love.
Scribner | 9781982145811

TOUCH by Olaf Olafsson (Fiction)
When the pandemic hits, Kristofer is forced to shutter his successful restaurant in Reykjavik, sending him into a spiral of uncertainty, even as his memory seems to be failing. But an uncanny bolt from the blue --- a message from Miko Nakamura, a woman whom he had known in the ’60s when they were students in London --- both inspires and rattles him, as he is drawn inexorably back into a love story that has marked him for life. Even as the pandemic upends his world, Kristofer finds himself pulled toward an answer to the mystery of Miko’s sudden departure decades before, compelling him to travel to London and Japan as the virus threatens to shut everything down.
Ecco | 9780063226982

On Sale the Week of August 15th in Paperback

August 16th

THE ACTUAL STAR by Monica Byrne (Speculative/Science Fiction)
THE ACTUAL STAR takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents. Braided together are the stories of a pair of teenage twins who ascend the throne of a Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion and racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change. In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate --- until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see.
Harper Voyager | 9780063002906

THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS: Essays by Ross Gay (Essays)
In THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS, award-winning poet Ross Gay offers up a genre-defying volume of lyric essays written over one tumultuous year. His first nonfiction book is a record of the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, cradling a tomato seedling aboard an airplane, the silent nod of acknowledgment between the only two Black people in a room. But Gay never dismisses the complexities, even the terrors, of living in America as a Black man, the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture, or the loss of those he loves. More than anything else, though, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world --- his garden, the flowers peeking out of the sidewalk, the hypnotic movements of a praying mantis.
Algonquin Books | 9781643753287

THE DEEPEST BLACK by Randall Silvis (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Acclaimed author Randall Silvis is looking for a story --- any story to follow up the series of gripping mystery novels that catapulted him to success. And then, out of nowhere, a story appears. A mysterious stranger named Thomas Kennaday tips Silvis off about a series of murders in a small Pennsylvania town, sending Silvis off on a tentative investigation in hopes of finding material for his next novel. What Silvis discovers is much more than a typical small-town murder case, and it soon becomes clear that Kennaday, who seems to have disappeared into thin air, is somehow pulling the strings of the investigation from behind the scenes.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728223612

FRIENDS LIKE THESE by Kimberly McCreight (Psychological Thriller)
Six college friends have reunited for a glamorous weekend in the Catskills, a decade after a fatal accident that nearly destroyed them. Keith, once the ringleader of the group, is spiraling into addiction and stands at the edge of losing it all. This weekend is the last chance to save him. But Keith is not the only one who needs saving. By dawn on Sunday morning, a car has been found deep in the woods --- one of the friends is dead, another is missing. When a local detective turns up to investigate, it’s clear the group is hiding something ominous. Haunted by her sister’s murder years ago, Detective Julia Scutt has her own share of problems. But she is a skilled detective and knows a rehearsed story when she hears one. It is up to Julia to untangle a decade-long web of friendship, lies and betrayals to discover the truth.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063061576

HEATWAVE by Victor Jestin (Fiction)
Seventeen-year-old Leo is sitting in an empty playground at night, listening to the sound of partying and pop music filtering in from the beach, when he sees another, more popular boy strangle himself with the ropes of the swings. Then, in a panic, Leo drags him to the beach and buries him. Over the next 24 hours, Leo wanders around the campsite like a sleepwalker, haunted by guilt and fear, and distracted by his desire for a girl named Luce. Meanwhile, the teenage summer rituals continue all around him --- the fighting and flirting, the smell of salt and sunscreen, the tinny announcements from the loudspeaker, and above all, the crushing, relentless heat.
Scribner | 9781982143497

THE HUMAN ZOO by Sabina Murray (Fiction)
Filipino-American Christina “Ting” Klein has just traveled from New York to Manila, both to escape her imminent divorce, and to begin research for a biography of Timicheg, an indigenous Filipino brought to America at the start of the 20th century to be exhibited as part of a "human zoo." It has been one year since Procopio “Copo” Gumboc swept the elections in an upset and took power as president. Arriving unannounced at her aging aunt’s aristocratic home, Ting quickly falls into upper-class Manila life. To make her way, she must balance the aristocratic traditions of her extended family, seemingly at odds with both situation and circumstance, as well as temper her stance towards a regime her loved ones are struggling to survive.
Grove Press | 9780802157515

LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS by Alicia Thompson (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analyzing the genre in her dissertation --- if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years. It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer. It's not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier --- a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.
Berkley | 9780593438657

THE MANHATTAN GIRLS: A Novel of Dorothy Parker and Her Friends by Gill Paul (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
New York City, 1921: The war is over, fashions are daring and bootleg liquor is abundant. Here four extraordinary women form a bridge group that grows into a firm friendship. Dorothy Parker: renowned wit, member of the Algonquin Round Table, and more fragile than she seems. Jane Grant: first female reporter for the New York Times, and determined to launch a new magazine she calls The New Yorker. Winifred Lenihan: beautiful and talented Broadway actress, a casting-couch target. And Peggy Leach: magazine assistant by day, brilliant novelist by night. Their romances flourish and falter, while their goals sometimes seem impossible to reach. But their biggest challenge is keeping their dear friend Dottie safe from herself.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063161757

MY NAME IS JOE LaVOIE by W.A. Winter (Mystery)
Paperback Original
On Thanksgiving Day, 1991, the tattered remnants of the notorious LaVoie crime family gather for a melancholy reunion. Sister Ronnie, a faded beauty who’s outlived three husbands and countless lovers, is the host. Her guests include eldest brother Eugene, the family’s detested Judas; Adriana, the flamboyant widow of youngest brother Michael, who was presumed killed in Vietnam; and Joe, the sole survivor of a fraternal trio of pint-sized desperadoes who terrorized the Upper Midwest during the summer of 1953. Crippled by a police bullet during the climactic shootout, Joe has spent the past 38 years in a wheelchair. Now, dying, he’s desperate to know --- yet terrified to learn --- the awful truth behind his family’s demise.
Seventh Street Books | 9781645060536

THE NAMELESS ONES by John Connolly (Supernatural Thriller)
In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis. The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland. They are wrong. For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into thin air. There is just one problem. The sixth.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982176983

PALM BEACH by Mary Adkins (Fiction)
Rebecca and her husband, Mickey, typify struggling, 30-something New Yorkers --- he’s an actor, and she’s a freelance journalist. But after the arrival of their baby son, the couple decides to relocate to Palm Beach, where Mickey has been offered a sweet deal managing the household of a multimillionaire Democratic donor. Once there, he quickly doubles his salary by going to work for venture capitalist Cecil Stone. Rebecca, a writer whose beat is economic inequality, is initially horrified: she pillories men like Stone, a ruthless businessman famous for crushing local newspapers. So no one is more surprised than her when she accepts a job working for Cecil’s wife as a ghostwriter. As she and Mickey are pulled deeper into this topsy-turvy household, they become increasingly dependent on their problematic benefactors.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063011380

THE PHOTOGRAPHER by Mary Dixie Carter (Psychological Thriller)
As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for. But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s 11th birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene --- in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life. That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate.
Minotaur Books | 9781250790354

ROOM AND BOARD by Miriam Parker (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Gillian thought she had everything she ever wanted. As a successful publicist running her own Manhattan firm, she finally made herself at home among the elite who eluded her throughout her youth. That is, until her career implodes, leaving her jobless, friendless and with a googleable reputation that follows her everywhere. So, when she receives an offer to become a “dorm mom” at Glen Ellen Academy, the prestigious Sonoma boarding school she attended two decades earlier on scholarship, she leaps at the opportunity for a change of scene. However, just as she begins to feel comfortable, a scandal surfaces on campus that threatens to derail everything. Now Gillian must figure out how to save her job, her students, her friends and her new romance before it’s too late.
Dutton | 9781524744502

THE SHIMMERING STATE by Meredith Westgate (Dystopian Fiction)
Lucien moves to Los Angeles to be with his grandmother as she undergoes an experimental memory treatment for Alzheimer’s using a new drug, Memoroxin. An emerging photographer, he’s also running from the sudden death of his mother. Sophie has just landed the lead in the upcoming performance of La Sylphide with the Los Angeles Ballet. She still waitresses during her off-hours at the Chateau Marmont, witnessing the recreational use of Memoroxin --- or Mem --- among the Hollywood elite. When Lucien and Sophie meet at the Center, they have no memory of how they got there --- or why they feel so inexplicably drawn to one another. Is it attraction, or something they cannot remember from “before”?
Atria Books | 9781982156725

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice by Ellen McGarrahan (True Crime/Memoir)
Ellen McGarrahan was a young journalist for The Miami Herald in 1990 when she witnessed the botched execution of convicted killer Jesse Tafero. When evidence later emerged casting doubt on Tafero’s guilt, McGarrahan found herself haunted by his fiery death. Had she witnessed the execution of an innocent man? Decades later, McGarrahan, now a successful private investigator, is still gripped by the mystery and infamy of the Tafero case, and decides she must investigate it herself. Her quest will take her around the world and deep into the harrowing heart of obsession. As questions of guilt and innocence become more complex, McGarrahan discovers she is not alone in her need for closure. For whenever a human life is taken by violence, the reckoning is long and difficult for all.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812988055

WITH LOVE FROM WISH & CO. by Minnie Darke (Romance)
Paperback Original
Marnie Fairchild is the brains and talent behind Wish & Co., a boutique store that offers a bespoke gift-buying service to wealthy clients with complicated lives. Brian Charlesworth is Marnie’s most prized customer, and today she’s wrapping the perfect anniversary gift for his wife, Suzanne…and a birthday present for his mistress, Leona. For years, Marnie has had her heart set on moving Wish & Co. to the historic shopfront once owned by her grandfather. When the chance to bid for the property unexpectedly arises, a distracted Marnie makes an uncharacteristic mistake. Soon Brian is in a fight to rescue his marriage, and Marnie is scrabbling to keep her dreams alive. The last thing she needs is to fall for Brian and Suzanne’s gorgeous son, Luke.
Dell | 9780593357194

THE YEAR’S BEST FANTASY: Volume One edited by Paula Guran (Fantasy/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
This superbly curated collection explores myth and fable, dark and light --- a heroic creature facing a dangerous demon; an earthly love facing the mossy decay of death. With tales of living ball gowns and timid monsters, of modern witches and multidimensional magic, these 24 stories will transport you from fantastical realms that push the limits of imagination to alternative realities mirroring much of our own. Discover bewitchment and wonder, the surreal and the chimerical, in a fantasy anthology representing a diverse array of accomplished talent from around the world…and perhaps beyond.
Pyr | 9781645060482

On Sale the Week of August 22nd in Hardcover

August 23rd

AFTERLIVES by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Historical Fiction)
When he was just a boy, Ilyas was stolen from his parents on the coast of east Africa by German colonial troops. After years away, fighting against his own people, he returns home to find his parents gone and his sister, Afiya, abandoned into de facto slavery. Hamza, too, returns home from the war, scarred in body and soul and with nothing but the clothes on his back --- until he meets the beautiful, undaunted Afiya. As these young people live and work and fall in love, their fates knotted ever more tightly together, the shadow of a new war on another continent falls over them, threatening once again to carry them away.
Riverhead Books | 9780593541883

BABEL: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang (Historical Fantasy)
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation --- also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion.
Harper Voyager | 9780063021426

BABYSITTER by Joyce Carol Oates (Domestic Thriller)
In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved child killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences. There is Hannah, wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive; Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on a chilling mission to rectify injustice; and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. As Babysitter continues his rampage of abductions and killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways.
Knopf | 9780593535172

BIG RED: A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles by Jerome Charyn (Historical Fiction)
In BIG RED, Jerome Charyn reimagines the life of one of America’s most enduring icons, “Gilda” herself, Rita Hayworth, whose fiery red tresses and hypnotic dancing graced the silver screen over 60 times in her nearly 40-year career. The quintessential movie star of the 1940s, Hayworth has long been objectified as a sex symbol, pin-up girl and so-called Love Goddess. Channeling the ghosts of a buried past, Charyn finally lifts the veils that have long enshrouded Hayworth, evoking her emotional complexity --- her passions, her pain and her inner turmoil.
Liveright | 9781324091332

DARK MUSIC written by David Lagercrantz, translated by Ian Giles (Thriller)
Professor Hans Rekke is a world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of dizzying feats of logic and observation. But he also has a fragile psyche that falls apart under pressure. Micaela Vargas is a street-smart police officer, the daughter of Chilean political refugees, who grew up in the projects on the outskirts of Stockholm and has two brothers on the wrong side of the law. She is tenacious and uncompromising, and desperate to prove herself to her fellow cops. Micaela needs Hans’ unique mind to help her solve the case of a murdered asylum seeker from Afghanistan. Hans needs Micaela to save him from himself. Together, they need to find the killer before they’re both silenced for good.
Knopf | 9780593319215

FOX CREEK by William Kent Krueger (Mystery)
The ancient Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux has had a vision of his death. As he walks the Northwoods in solitude, he tries to prepare himself peacefully for the end of his long life. But peace is destined to elude him as hunters fill the woods seeking a woman named Dolores Morriseau, a stranger who had come to the healer for shelter and the gift of his wisdom. Meloux guides this stranger and his great niece, Cork O’Connor’s wife, to safety deep into the Boundary Waters, his home for more than a century. On the last journey he may ever take into this beloved land, Meloux must do his best to outwit the deadly mercenaries who follow. Meanwhile, in Aurora, Cork works feverishly to identify the hunters and the reason for their relentless pursuit, but he has little to go on.
Atria Books | 9781982128715

GIRL, FORGOTTEN by Karin Slaughter (Mystery/Thriller)
Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn gets ready for the prom. For an athlete, who is smart, pretty and well-liked, this night should be the highlight of her high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the evening, that secret will be silenced forever. Forty years later, Emily’s murder remains a mystery. Her tight-knit group of friends closed ranks; her respected, wealthy family retreated inwards; and the small town moved on from her grisly attack. But that's all about to change. US Marshal Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach on her first assignment: to protect a judge receiving death threats. But, in reality, Andrea is there to find justice for Emily. The killer is still out there --- and Andrea must discover the truth before she gets silenced, too.
William Morrow | 9780062858115

HAVEN by Emma Donoghue (Historical Fiction)
In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks --- young Trian and old Cormac --- he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316413930

THE HUNDRED WATERS by Lauren Acampora (Fiction)
Formerly a model and photographer trying to make it in New York, Louisa Rader is back in her affluent hometown of Nearwater, Connecticut, where she's married to a successful older architect, raising a preteen daughter, and trying to vitalize the provincial local art center. As the years pass, she's grown restless in her safe and comfortable routine, haunted by the flash of the life she used to live. When intense and intriguing young artist-environmentalist Gabriel arrives in town with his aristocratic family, his impact on the Raders has hothouse effects. As Gabriel pushes to realize his artistic vision for the world, he pulls both Louisa and her daughter, Sylvie, under his spell, with consequences that disrupt the Raders’ world forever.
Grove Press | 9780802159748

THE HUNT: A Decker/Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman (Mystery)
Peter Decker and his partner, Detective Tyler McAdams, are thrown into an unsolved case and propelled into action when a body is found in the very woods where a man previously went missing in upstate New York. But that’s not the only crisis that Peter has to deal with. Teresa McLaughlin, the biological mother of Peter and his wife Rina Lazarus’ foster son, Gabe, has fled to Los Angeles with her two children in tow, hoping to avoid a court injunction amid a messy divorce. But LA is no escape from her problems; she is found by ruthless men and beaten mercilessly. When she wakes, barely conscious, Teresa discovers that both of her children are gone and frantically calls Gabe for help.
William Morrow | 9780062910493

A PLACE IN THE WORLD: Finding the Meaning of Home by Frances Mayes (Memoir)
Though Frances Mayes is known for her travels, she has always sought a sense of home wherever she goes. In this poetic testament to the power of place in our lives, Mayes reflects on the idea of home, from the earliest imprint of four walls to the startling discoveries of feeling the strange ease of homes abroad, friends’ homes, and even momentary homes that spark desires for other lives. Her musings are all the more poignant after so many have spent their long pandemic months at home. From her travels across Italy --- Tuscany, of course, but also Venice and Capri --- to the American South, France and Mexico, Mayes examines the connective tissue among them through the homes she’s inhabited.
Crown | 9780593443330

PLEASE JOIN US by Catherine McKenzie (Psychological Thriller)
Nicole Mueller’s once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo, and signs up for their retreat in Colorado. Once there, she meets the other women who will make up her Pride --- a CEO, an actress, a finance whiz and a congresswoman. Nicole is all in. And when she gets home, she soon sees dividends. Her new network quickly provides her with clients that help her relaunch her career, and a great new apartment too. But then she’s called to the congresswoman’s apartment late at night where she’s pressed into helping her cover up a crime.
Atria Books | 9781982159245

SAVING FREUD: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom by Andrew Nagorski (Biography)
In March 1938, German soldiers crossed the border into Austria, and Hitler absorbed the country into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was 81 years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger. But several prominent people close to Freud thought otherwise, and they began a coordinated effort to persuade Freud to leave his beloved Vienna and emigrate to England. The group included a Welsh physician, Napoleon’s great-grandniece, an American ambassador, Freud’s devoted youngest daughter, Anna, and his personal doctor.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982172831

TRAITOR'S DANCE: A Sam Capra Novel by Jeff Abbott (Thriller)
Sam Capra is working for America's most secret espionage agency, known as Section K, when he is informed that Markus Bolt is missing. Bolt is the last American traitor, who had turned over allied agent names and military secrets to the Russians. He fled to Moscow when he was discovered, but now a trusted source inside Russia tells Section K that Markus Bolt has vanished from Moscow --- and the Americans need to find him before the Russians do. Sam is charged with making contact with Bolt's abandoned American daughter, Amanda, and determining if she's had any contact with her father. He must discover the reason behind Bolt's unexpected run and protect Amanda from the killers hunting her father.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538708743

On Sale the Week of August 22nd in Paperback

August 23rd

THE BURNING by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman (Mystery/Thriller)
A raging wildfire. A massive blackout. A wealthy man shot to death in his palatial hilltop home. For Clay Edison, it’s all in a day’s work. As a deputy coroner, caring for the dead, he speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves. He prides himself on an unflinching commitment to the truth. Even when it gets him into trouble. Then, while working the murder scene, Clay is horrified to discover a link to his brother, Luke, who is fresh out of prison and struggling to stay on the straight and narrow. And now he’s gone AWOL. The race is on for Clay to find him before anyone else can. Confronted with Luke’s legacy of violence, he is forced to reckon with his own suspicions, resentments and loyalties.
Ballantine Books | 9780525620136

THE DARKNESS OF OTHERS by Cate Holahan (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
Imani Banks lives in a posh Brooklyn Heights neighborhood that has just been rocked to its core. An acclaimed movie director has been murdered, and his blond trophy wife --- Imani’s closest friend --- is missing. Their neighbors, along with the media, jump to the conclusion that Melissa Walker has killed her husband in a fit of rage and is on the run. Recently, Imani and her chef husband rented some extra rooms in their house to a struggling waitress from his restaurant. Tonya Sayre has moved in with her teen daughter, and the convenient timing and her suspicious behavior soon lead Imani to suspect that the true killer is living right under her own roof. Now all she has to do is prove it.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538709184

DOWN THE HATCH: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton with R.W. Green (Mystery)
Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green --- with the body of an old man lying at their feet. The man, who the coroner determines died by poisoning, was known as "the Admiral," a gardener notorious for his heavy drinking, and Chief Inspector Wilkes writes the death off as an accident caused by the consumption of weedkiller stored in a rum bottle. Agatha is not convinced that anyone would mistake weedkiller for rum but carries on with her work at Raisin Investigations, until she receives an anonymous tip that the Admiral’s death was no accident.
Minotaur Books | 9781250816153

END OF DAYS: A Pike Logan Novel by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
When a paragliding trip over the picturesque mountains of Switzerland results in the brutal murder of the former head of Israeli intelligence, Mossad brings in terrorist hunters Aaron and Shoshana to investigate. But they'll need help to find out who was behind the attack and what they’re planning next. Luckily, Aaron and Shoshana know exactly who to call: taskforce operators Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill. Some suspect that Keta’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-funded militia group operating in Iraq, might be responsible for the “accidental” deaths of key members of the American and Israeli governments. But something isn’t adding up, and Pike, Jennifer and the two Mossad operators are determined to find the real assassins before more people are cut down.
William Morrow | 9780062886118

ENEMY AT THE GATES: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Political Thriller)
Mitch Rapp has worked for a number of presidents over his career, but Anthony Cook is unlike any he’s encountered before. Cunning and autocratic, he feels no loyalty to America’s institutions and is distrustful of the influence Rapp and CIA director Irene Kennedy have in Washington. Meanwhile, when Kennedy discovers evidence of a mole scouring the Agency’s database for sensitive information on Nicholas Ward, the world’s first trillionaire, she convinces Rapp to take a job protecting him. In doing so, he finds himself walking an impossible tightrope: Keep the man alive, but also use him as bait to uncover a traitor who has seemingly unlimited access to government secrets.
Pocket Books | 9781982164898

LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project, Marie would accept without hesitation. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward. Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school --- archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away. Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. But she could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally and devouring her with those eyes. When it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?
Berkley | 9780593336847

THE NINTH MONTH by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Emily Atkinson leads a complicated life in New York City. She’s a successful marketing executive who lives in a luxury apartment and enjoys a glamorous existence until she lands in the hospital with a double diagnosis: she parties too much --- and she’s pregnant. Her nurse and new best friend, Betsey, helps Emily rediscover how much she loves morning runs in the park and quiet nights at home. But as a series of women in her wealthy social circles go missing, Emily’s pregnancy becomes decidedly high-risk.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538753002

NOTHING TO LOSE: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
Years ago, when he was a homicide detective with the Seattle PD, J. P. Beaumont’s partner, Sue Danielson, was murdered. Volatile and angry, Danielson’s ex-husband came after her in her home. With nowhere else to turn, Jared, Sue’s teenage son, frantically called Beau for help. As Beau rushed to the scene, he urged Jared to grab his younger brother and flee the house. In the end, Beau’s plea and Jared’s quick action saved the two boys from their father’s murderous rage. Now, almost 20 years later, Jared reappears in Beau’s life seeking his help once again --- his younger brother, Chris, is missing. Beau encounters a tangled web of family secrets in which a killer with nothing to lose is waiting to take another life.
William Morrow | 9780063022669

A PLACE LIKE HOME: Short Stories by Rosamunde Pilcher (Fiction/Short Stories)
A PLACE LIKE HOME is a collection of short stories by internationally bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, never before published in book form. It contains 15 stories, which range from “The Holiday,” in which a wife surprises her husband of 25 years with a holiday full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children; “The Eye of Love,” which takes the reader to a village by the sea where old flames meet again; and “A Place Like Home,” where a lonely young woman goes to recuperate in the Scottish countryside after a brief illness. The fruit orchards and fresh sea air offer much-needed respite --- but not as much as the handsome, mysterious farmer she meets.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250795021

ROBERT B. PARKER’S STONE’S THROW: A Jesse Stone Novel by Mike Lupica (Mystery)
The town of Paradise receives a tragic shock when the mayor is discovered dead. It's ostensibly suicide, but Jesse Stone has his doubts…especially because the piece of land where the man was found is the subject of a contentious and dodgy land deal. Two powerful moguls are fighting over the right to buy and develop the prime piece of real estate, and one of them has brought in a hired gun, an old adversary of Jesse’s: Wilson Cromartie, aka Crow. Meanwhile, the town council is debating if they want to sacrifice Paradise’s stately character for the economic boost of a glitzy new development. Tempers are running hot, and as the deaths begin to mount, it’s increasingly clear that the mayor may have been standing in the wrong person’s way.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525542131

RULES AT THE SCHOOL BY THE SEA: The Second School by the Sea Novel by Jenny Colgan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Maggie Adair’s first year as a teacher at Downey House was a surprising success. Now engaged to her longtime boyfriend, sweet and steady Stan, Maggie has to stop thinking about David McDonald, her colleague at the boys’ school down the road. Can she take a leaf out of the Well Behaved Teacher’s exercise book and stick to her plan for a small but elegant wedding and settled life of matrimony? Even as Maggie tries to stay within the lines, rules are being broken all around her. Maggie’s boss, headmistress Veronica Deveral, has more to lose than anyone. When Daniel Stapleton joins the faculty, Veronica finds herself forced to confront a scandalous secret she thought she’d carefully buried forever.
Avon | 9780063141766

WHAT A DOG KNOWS by Susan Wilson (Fiction)
Ruby Heartwood, a traveling psychic, has always lived a life on the move. She needs no one, and no one needs her. Until one night, when she is camped by the side of the road, a fierce thunder and lightning storm erupts. In the middle of the downpour, she hears a distinct voice telling her to "let me in." In jumps a little black and white dog, and to Ruby's astonishment, she can hear the dog's thoughts. Has she been struck by lightning? Did the storm do this? Is she losing her mind? It turns out that Ruby can hear many dogs' thoughts. She decides to set up semi-permanent residency in the town of Harmony Farms until she can sort out what is going on and who the dog, Hitch, belongs to. But some people in Harmony Farms don't want her there. And it seems that events keep preventing Ruby from leaving.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250077271

WHAT SHE FOUND by Robert Dugoni (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Detective Tracy Crosswhite has agreed to look into the disappearance of investigative reporter Lisa Childress. Solving the cold case is an obsession for Lisa’s daughter, Anita. So is clearing the name of her father, a prime suspect who became a pariah. After 25 years, all Anita wants is the truth --- no matter where it leads. For Tracy, that means reopening the potentially explosive investigations Lisa was following on the dark night she vanished. As all the pieces come together, it becomes clear that Tracy is in the midst of a case that will push her loyalties and her resilience to the limit. What she uncovers will come with a greater price than anyone feared.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542008327

WHAT STORM, WHAT THUNDER by Myriam J. A. Chancy (Fiction)
An earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Myriam J. A. Chancy charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster --- Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all.
Tin House Books | 9781953534385

THE WITCHES OF MOONSHYNE MANOR by Bianca Marais (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby --- one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for 33 years --- will surely be their salvation. But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.
Mira | 9780778386995

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