In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of March 27th and April 3rd 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 review of LOYALTY, Lisa Scottoline's second historical novel following the 2021 release of ETERNAL. Set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily, this emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice is now in stores and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Don't miss Carol Fitzgerald's interview with Lisa in the March 31st Bookreporter Weekly Update newsletter and her Bets On commentary in the April 7th Weekly Update newsletter.
Since November, Lisa has hosted a terrific series of online events leading up to the book’s publication where she shared short videos that she shot in Sicily, all of which inspired LOYALTY. Readers can now view those, along with her commentary and an interactive map of the actual locations mentioned in the book, here. This map is the perfect way to enhance your reading experience and learn about the inspiration and research behind LOYALTY. Visit Lisa’s website for much more about the book, and be sure to check out her book tour schedule, which includes both in-person and virtual events.
Carol's latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview is with Sadeqa Johnson, whose new book, THE HOUSE OF EVE, is her second work of historical fiction and a Bets On title. This daring, beautiful and redemptive novel explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.
Sadeqa explains that the inspiration for the book came from her family history. She also discusses character development and which character came to her first. Unlike her previous novel, YELLOW WIFE, she had lots of contemporary history to delve into as she was conducting her research, including foods, rituals and, yes, fashion. Then there was the statistic that between 1945 and 1973, 1.5 million women in the United States lost children to forced adoption, and what that might mean. Click here to watch the video or here to listen to the podcast.
This is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for this month’s “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event, which will take place TOMORROW, Wednesday, March 29th at 8pm ET.
Our guest will be Allison Pataki, and we will be talking about her most recent novel, THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST, a Bets On pick that is now in paperback. This national bestseller is an epic reimagining of the remarkable life of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the American heiress and trailblazing leader of the 20th century. Our Bookreporter reviewer Amy Gwiazdowski calls the book “lavish, exciting and sometimes heartbreaking, but Pataki brings you around each time, and you’re eager to tag along for the ride that was Marjorie Post’s life.”
You can register for the event by clicking here. If you would like to ask Allison a question on camera during the event and chat with her in our virtual green room before the event, please email Carol with your question using the subject line “Marjorie” by Wednesday at noon ET. Be sure to include your name, city and state, as well as your question. If you do not want to appear on camera but still would like to ask a question, please note that you want to be off camera, and share your question --- adding your name, city and state.
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 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, March 29th at 7pm ET: Avon Free Public Library: Join Avon Free Public Library for a conversation with Ann Napolitano to celebrate the release of her new novel, HELLO BEAUTIFUL, which is Oprah’s 100th Book Club pick. The discussion will be moderated by Tina Panik, Avon's Reference & Adult Services Manager.
Wednesday, March 29th 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 Lisa Scottoline and Robert Dugoni about their latest novels: Scottoline's LOYALTY and Dugoni's HER DEADLY GAME.
Wednesday, March 29th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Allison Pataki about her novel, THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST, which is now in paperback. Allison also will answer questions from guests who will be "on stage," as well as from other members of the audience. If you would like to be one of our featured audience guests and ask Allison a question on camera, please send Carol an email with the subject line “Marjorie” by Wednesday the 29th at noon ET.
Monday, April 3rd at 4pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Sarah Penner and Susan Stokes-Chapman will talk about their latest historical novels: Sarah's THE LONDON SÉANCE SOCIETY and Susan's PANDORA.
Monday, April 3rd at 7pm ET: Gramercy Books: Join #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline as she launches her latest historical novel, LOYALTY, an emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily.
Tuesday, April 4th at 3pm ET: "Adriana Ink": In this episode of her weekly Facebook Live show, "Adriana Ink," Adriana Trigiani will chat with Lisa Scottoline about her much-talked-about second work of historical fiction, LOYALTY.
Tuesday, April 4th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Rajasree Variyar for a live book club event to discuss THE DAUGHTERS OF MADURAI, March's B&N Book Club pick. She will be in conversation with Shannon DeVito, the Director of Category Management at B&N, and Miwa Messer, B&N’s Editorial Director.
Tuesday, April 4th at 4pm ET: Book Passage: Lisa Scottoline will discuss her new novel, LOYALTY, with Luisa Smith, who is the Buying Director of Book Passage and Editor in Chief of Scarlet, an imprint of Mysterious Press.
Tuesday, April 4th at 7pm ET: RJ Julia Booksellers & Brome Lake Books: RJ Julia Booksellers and Brome Lake Books, along with Mariner Books and Simon & Schuster Canada, are proud to present the North American launch of HOMECOMING by Kate Morton. Kate will be in conversation with Patti Callahan Henry, whose upcoming novel is THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEE.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Review of LOYALTY by Lisa Scottoline
An Upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
LOYALTY by Lisa Scottoline (Historical Fiction)
Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome lemon grower toiling on the estate of a baron. He dreams of owning his own grove, but the rigid class system of Sicily thwarts his ambition. Determined to secure a better future, Franco will do anything to prove his loyalty to the baron. But when the baron asks him to kidnap a little boy named Dante, Franco makes a decision that will change his life --- and even the history of Sicily --- forever.
Gaetano Catalano is an idealistic young lawyer whose devotion to justice is tantamount to a calling. He’s a member of the Beati Paoli, a real-life secret society of aristocrats who investigate crime in Palermo, a city riddled with graft. Gaetano sets out to find the boy and punish the kidnapper, but his mission leads him to a darker place than he had ever imagined.
Meanwhile, Mafalda Pancari is a new mother rejoicing at the birth of her daughter, Lucia, when disaster strikes. And Alfredo D’Antonio is a reclusive goatherd under constant threat of being discovered as a Jew.
This cast of unforgettable characters collides in this epic tale of good versus evil, as LOYALTY twists and turns to its monumental showdown. Readers will be transported to the dramatic and ruggedly beautiful island of Sicily, the jewel of the Mediterranean, where lush lemon groves and mouth-watering cuisine contrast with a turbulent history of colonization and corruption. Scottoline brings her decades of thriller writing to historical fiction, creating in LOYALTY a singular novel that no reader will be able to put down.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to listen to the first chapter, read by Edoardo Ballerini.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here for "Behind the Book" resources to enhance your reading experience, including an interactive map of Sicily that includes photos and videos.
- Click here to visit Lisa Scottoline's website.
- Connect with Lisa Scottoline on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Click here for Lisa Scottoline's book tour schedule.
Click here to read our review from Jana Siciliano.
Don't miss Carol's interview with Lisa Scottoline in the
March 31st Bookreporter Weekly Update newsletter and her
Bets On commentary in the April 7th Weekly Update newsletter.
On Sale the Week of March 27th in Hardcover
March 28th
THE BALL IN THE AIR: A Golfing Adventure by Michael Bamberger (Sports)
Over Michael Bamberger’s celebrated writing career, he has written a handful of books and hundreds of Sports Illustrated stories about professional golf and those who play it --- that is, the .001 percent. Now, in a delightful turn of events, Bamberger has decided to train his eye on the rest of us. In his most personal book yet, Bamberger takes the lid off a game that is both quasi-religious and a nonstop party, posing an age-old question early that is answered over its pages: Why does the game cast such a spell on us? Here is the story of modern golf that is not on TV. This is our story, we who pay to play, who can’t wait to get another crack at the game, even when golf doesn’t love us back.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668009826
COMMUNITY BOARD by Tara Conklin (Fiction)
Darcy Clipper has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined. But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy’s first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community? And what does she owe it in return?
Mariner Books | 9780062959379
THE GREAT RECLAMATION by Rachel Heng (Historical Fiction)
Ah Boon is born into a fishing village amid the heat and beauty of 20th-century coastal Singapore in the waning years of British rule. He spends his days playing with the neighbor girl, Siok Mei. But when he discovers he has the unique ability to locate bountiful, movable islands that no one else can find, he feels a new sense of obligation and possibility --- something to offer the community and impress the spirited girl he has come to love. By the time they are teens, Ah Boon and Siok Mei are caught in the tragic sweep of history: the Japanese army invades, the resistance rises, grief intrudes, and the future of the fishing village is in jeopardy. As the nation hurtles toward rebirth, the two friends must decide who they want to be and what they are willing to give up.
Riverhead Books | 9780593420119
HANG THE MOON by Jeannette Walls (Historical Fiction)
Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother, who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out. Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness.
Scribner | 9781501117299
A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES by T. Kingfisher (Gothic Horror/Fantasy)
Sam Montgomery is excited for a rare extended visit with his mother and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine and watching murder mystery shows. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes that home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above. To find out what has her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250829795
LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle (Historical Thriller/Supernatural Horror)
Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear. The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it --- except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.
One World | 9780525512080
LOYALTY by Lisa Scottoline (Historical Fiction)
Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome lemon grower toiling on the estate of a baron. When the baron asks him to kidnap a little boy named Dante, Franco makes a decision that will change his life --- and even the history of Sicily --- forever. Gaetano Catalano is an idealistic young lawyer who is a member of the Beati Paoli, a real-life secret society of aristocrats who investigate crime in Palermo. Gaetano sets out to find the boy and punish the kidnapper, but his mission leads him to a darker place than he had ever imagined. Meanwhile, Mafalda Pancari is a new mother rejoicing at the birth of her daughter, Lucia, when disaster strikes. And Alfredo D’Antonio is a reclusive goatherd under constant threat of being discovered as a Jew. These characters will collide as LOYALTY twists and turns to its monumental showdown.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525539803
THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF TANNER & LOUISE by Colleen Oakley (Fiction)
Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited. So when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it. One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things. Why does Louise keep her garden shed locked up tighter than a prison? Why is the local news fixated on the suspect of one of the biggest jewelry heists in American history who looks eerily like Louise? And why does Louise suddenly appear in her room, with a packed bag at 1 a.m., insisting that they leave town immediately?
Berkley | 9780593200803
THE NEW EARTH by Jess Row (Fiction)
Though never the picture of happiness, the Wilcoxes once seemed like a typical white Jewish clan from the Upper West Side. But in the early 2000s, two events ruptured the relationships between them. First, Naomi revealed to her children that her biological father was actually Black. In the aftermath, college-age daughter Bering left home to become a radical peace activist in Palestine’s West Bank, where she was killed by an Israeli Army sniper. Now, in 2018, Winter Wilcox is getting married, and her only demand is that her mother, father and brother emerge from their self-imposed isolations and gather once more. After decades of neglecting personal and political wounds, each remaining family member must face their fractured history and decide if they can ever reconcile.
Ecco | 9780062400635
THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS by Alka Joshi (Historical Fiction)
Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, but she loves being a mother to her daughters and finally has found her passion --- the treasure trove of scents. She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out that the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her --- upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.
Mira | 9780778386148
THOSE EMPTY EYES by Charlie Donlea (Mystery/Thriller)
Alex Armstrong hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed 10 years ago. As a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too. People like Matthew Claymore, who’s under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named Laura McAllister. Laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover-ups on her college campus. Alex believes Matthew is innocent and unearths stunning revelations about the university’s faculty, fraternity members and powerful parents willing to do anything to protect their children. Most shocking of all, as Alex digs into Laura’s disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family.
Kensington | 9781496727176
WHITE CAT, BLACK DOG: Stories by Kelly Link (Fiction/Short Stories)
Finding seeds of inspiration in the Brothers Grimm, 17th-century French lore and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into utterly original stories of seekers --- characters on the hunt for love, connection, revenge or their own sense of purpose. In “The White Cat’s Divorce,” an aging billionaire sends his three sons on a series of absurd goose chases to decide which child will become his heir. In “Skinder’s Veil,” a young man agrees to take over a remote house-sitting gig for a friend. But what should be a chance to focus on his long-avoided dissertation instead becomes a wildly unexpected journey, as the house seems to be a portal for otherworldly travelers --- or perhaps a door into his own mysterious psyche.
Random House | 9780593449950
April 1st
LITTLE POISON: Paul Runyan, Sam Snead, and a Long-Shot Upset at the 1938 PGA Championship by Jonh Dechant (Sports/Biography)
Paul Runyan --- the Arkansas farm boy who stood 5'6" and weighed 130 pounds --- shocked the golf world by defeating long and lean, sweet-swinging Sam Snead in the finals of the 1938 PGA Championship, thus earning the nickname “Little Poison.” Runyan did more than beat Snead: he shellacked him as decisively as David toppled mighty Goliath. His resounding victory was so convincing, so dominant, that even Snead had to shake his head when it was finished and wonder how the porkpie-wearing, pint-sized golf pro had gotten the better of him in the 36-hole final. LITTLE POISON is the story of a man who made a career out of punching above his weight on the golf course.
University of Nebraska Press | 9781496231420
On Sale the Week of March 27th in Paperback
March 28th
AFTER THE ROMANOVS: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War by Helen Rappaport (History)
Paris always has been a city of cultural excellence, fine wine and food, and the latest fashions. But it also has been a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution, never more so than before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For years, Russian aristocrats had enjoyed all that Belle Époque Paris had to offer, spending lavishly when they visited. It was a place of artistic experimentation, such as Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But the brutality of the Bolshevik takeover forced Russians of all types to flee their homeland. AFTER THE ROMANOVS is the story of the Russian aristocrats, artists and intellectuals who sought freedom and refuge in the City of Light.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250777201
BENEATH THE STAIRS by Jennifer Fawcett (Horror)
Few in sleepy Sumner’s Mills have stumbled across the Octagon House hidden deep in the woods. Even fewer are brave enough to trespass. A man had killed his wife and two young daughters there, a shocking, gruesome crime that the sleepy upstate New York town tried to bury. One summer night, an emboldened 14-year-old Clare and her best friend, Abby, ventured into the Octagon House. Clare came out, but a piece of Abby never did. Twenty years later, an adult Clare receives word that Abby has attempted suicide at the Octagon House and now lies in a coma. With little to lose and still grieving after a personal tragedy, Clare returns to her roots to uncover the darkness responsible for Abby’s accident.
Atria Books | 9781982177164
CRIMSON SUMMER by Heather Graham (Thriller)
When FDLE special agent Amy Larson discovers a small horse figurine amid the bloody aftermath of a gang massacre in the Everglades, she recognizes it immediately. The toy is the calling card of the apocalypse cult that Amy and her partner, FBI special agent Hunter Forrest, have been investigating, and it can only mean one thing: this wasn’t an isolated skirmish --- it was the beginning of a war. Amy and Hunter’s investigation leads them to a violent, far-right extremist group who is in no hurry to quell the civil unrest. With a deadly puppet master working to silence their every lead, it’s a race against the clock to figure out who’s been pulling the strings and put a stop to the escalating cartel turf war before the Everglades run red.
Mira | 9780778386971
CRYING IN H MART: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner (Memoir)
With humor and heart, Michelle Zauner tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band --- and meeting the man who would become her husband --- her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language and history that her mother had given her.
Vintage | 9781984898951
A DEATH IN DENMARK: The First Gabriel Præst Novel by Amulya Malladi (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Everyone in Denmark knew that Yousef Ahmed, a refugee from Iraq, brutally murdered the right-wing politician Sanne Melgaard. So when part-time blues musician, frustrated home renovator and full-time private detective Gabriel Præst agrees to investigate the matter, he knew it was a no-win case. But as Gabriel starts to ask questions, his face meets with the fists of Russian gangsters; the Danish prime minister asks him for a favor; and he starts to realize that something may be rotten in the state of Denmark. Wondering if Yousef was framed to heighten the local anti-Muslim sentiment, Gabriel follows a trail back in time to World War II when anti-Semitism was raging in Europe during the German occupation of Denmark, and he finds that some very powerful Danes don’t want him digging into the case.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063235519
HER DEADLY GAME by Robert Dugoni (Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career. Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. The prosecutor happens to be Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense. As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662500183
HER LAST AFFAIR by John Searles (Psychological Thriller)
Ever since her husband’s death in a freak accident the year before, Skyla spends her nights ruminating about the regrets and deceptions in her long marriage. That is, until she rents a cottage to a charming British man, Teddy Cornwell. A thousand miles away, Linelle is about to turn 50. Bored by her spouse and fired from her job, her only source of joy is an online affair with her very first love, a man she’s not seen in nearly 30 years, Teddy Cornwell. While in New York City, Jeremy, a failed and bitter writer, accepts an assignment to review a new restaurant in Providence. Years ago, Providence was the site of his first great love and first great heartbreak --- and maybe, just maybe, he’ll look her up when he’s back in town.
Mariner Books | 9780060779672
HER LOST WORDS: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Stephanie Marie Thornton (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1792. As the author of A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN, Mary Wollstonecraft refuses to bow to society’s conventions and instead supports herself with her pen until an illicit love affair challenges her every belief about romance and marriage. When she gives birth to a daughter and is stricken with childbed fever, Mary fears it will be her many critics who recount her life’s extraordinary odyssey. 1818. The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley struggles to balance an ever-complicated marriage with motherhood while nursing twin hopes that she might write something of her own one day and discover the truth of her mother’s unconventional life. Mary’s journey will unlock her mother’s secrets, all while leading to her own destiny as the groundbreaking author of FRANKENSTEIN.
Berkley | 9780593198421
HOTEL OF SECRETS by Diana Biller (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
It’s ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She’s not going to let anything get in her way, especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who has saved her life two times already. Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos --- and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250809452
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 Paperbacks | 9780062910509
I’LL SHOW MYSELF OUT: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood by Jessi Klein (Humor/Essays)
In New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Jessi Klein’s second collection, she hilariously explodes the cultural myths and impossible expectations around motherhood and explores the humiliations, poignancies and possibilities of midlife. In interconnected essays like “Listening to Beyoncé in the Parking Lot of Party City,” “Your Husband Will Remarry Five Minutes After You Die,” “Eulogy for My Feet” and “An Open Love Letter to Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent,” Klein explores this stage of life in all its cruel ironies, joyous moments and bittersweetness.
Harper Perennial | 9780062981608
THE IT GIRL by Ruth Ware (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends --- Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily --- during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982155278
NOT SO PERFECT STRANGERS by L.S. Stratton (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Tasha Jenkins has finally found the courage to leave her abusive husband. Taking her teenage son with her, Tasha checks into a hotel the night before their flight out of D.C. But escaping isn’t so easy, and Tasha soon finds herself driving back to her own personal hell. As she is leaving, a white woman pounds on her car window, begging to be let in. Behind the woman, an angry man is in pursuit. Tasha makes a split-second decision that will alter the course of her life: she lets her in and takes off. She and Madison Gingell may have very different everyday realities, but what they have in common is marriages they need out of. The two women want to help each other, but they have very different ideas of what that means. They are on a collision course that will end in the case files of the D.C. MPD homicide unit.
Union Square & Co. | 9781454947431
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 | 9781538751992
THE RESTING PLACE written by Camilla Sten, translated by Alexandra Fleming (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Eleanor lives with prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize a familiar person's face. When she walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother Vivianne’s murder, she came face to face with the killer --- a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, the horror of having come so close to a murderer --- and not knowing if they’d be back --- overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality. Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house, a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died suddenly. A place that has housed a chilling past for over 50 years.
Minotaur Books | 9781250875273
THE SCANDALOUS LADIES OF LONDON: THE COUNTESS by Sophie Jordan (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
Wealthy society maven Lady Gertrude knows how the world works. If her husband is less than faithful, it’s an acceptable price to pay for her coveted position at the apex of London’s most fashionable set. No exclusive soirée or lavish ball is complete without her and her group of decadent, well-connected friends. And this Season promises more excitement than usual: Tru is launching her daughter into Society, helping her navigate the cutthroat Marriage Mart, complete with fortune hunters, jealous debutantes and malicious gossips. As skilled as Tru is at playing the high-stakes games of the ton, she never expects to meet her match --- until Jasper Thorne begins to court her daughter. Jasper needs a titled bride, but when he meets Tru, all his carefully laid plans go up in smoke.
Avon | 9780063270701
SEA CHANGE by Gina Chung (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Ro is stuck. She's just entered her 30s, she's estranged from her mother, and her boyfriend has just left her to join a mission to Mars. Her days are spent dragging herself to her menial job at the aquarium, and her nights are spent drinking sharktinis (Mountain Dew and copious amounts of gin, plus a hint of jalapeño). With her best friend pulling away to focus on her upcoming wedding, Ro's only companion is Dolores, a giant Pacific octopus who also happens to be her last remaining link to her father, a marine biologist who disappeared while on an expedition when Ro was a teenager. When Dolores is sold to a wealthy investor intent on moving her to a private aquarium, Ro finds herself on the precipice of self-destruction.
Vintage | 9780593469347
SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel (Post-Apocalyptic/Science Fiction)
Edwin St. Andrew is 18 years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the Canadian wilderness and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal. Two centuries later, Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony. Within the text of Olive’s bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended.
Vintage | 9780593466735
SUSPECTS by Danielle Steel (Thriller)
Theodora Morgan, the founder of a wildly popular online shopping service, prefers to keep a low profile, especially over the last months. It was a year ago when her husband, industry mogul Matthieu Pasquier, and their son were kidnapped and held for ransom --- a nightmare that ended in tragedy. The case has gone cold, despite evidence linking the crime to Matthieu’s Russian competitors. Theo has reluctantly gone back to work running her company. On the flight to a launch party for one of her highly anticipated pop-up shops in New York City, she crosses paths with high-society networker Pierre de Vaumont. Theo politely invites him to her event --- unaware that Pierre has been flagged by the CIA.
Dell | 9780593600184
THE TOBACCO WIVES by Adele Myers (Historical Fiction)
Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who has just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina --- the tobacco capital of the South --- where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes and, most of all, her aunt’s glossiest clientele: the wives of the powerful tobacco executives. But she soon learns that a trail of misfortune follows many of the women, including substantial health problems. Although Maddie is quick to believe that this is a coincidence, she inadvertently uncovers evidence that suggests otherwise.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063082946
On Sale the Week of April 3rd in Hardcover
April 4th
THE ALL-AMERICAN by Joe Milan Jr. (Fiction)
Seventeen-year-old Bucky Yi knows nothing about his birth country of South Korea or his bio-dad’s disappearance. Running through the woods of rural Washington State with a tire tied to his waist, his sights are set on one all-American goal: to become a college football player. So when a misadventure with his adoptive family leads the U.S. government to deport him to South Korea, he’s forced to navigate an entirely foreign version of his life. One mishap leads to another, and as an outsider, Bucky has to fall back on not just his raw physical strength, but resources of character and attitude he didn’t know he had. That means managing his ego, insecurities, sexual desires, family legacies and allegiances in order to make it back home --- wherever that might be --- and determine who he is.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324035657
BLIND SPOTS by Thomas Mullen (Science Fiction/Noir Thriller)
Seven years ago, everyone in the world went blind in a matter of months. Technology helped people adjust to the new normal, creating a device that approximates vision, downloading visual data directly to people’s brains. But what happens when someone finds a way to hack it and change what people see? Homicide detective Mark Owens has been on the force since before The Blinding. When a scientist is murdered, and the only witness insists the killer was blacked out of her vision, Owens doesn’t believe her --- until a similar murder happens in front of him. With suspects ranging from tech billionaires to anti-modernity cultists --- and with the bodies piling up --- Owens must conduct an investigation in which he can’t even trust his own eyes.
Minotaur Books | 9781250842749
BROWN BOY: A Memoir by Omer Aziz (Memoir)
In a tough neighborhood on the outskirts of Toronto, Omer Aziz struggles to find his place as a first-generation Pakistani Muslim boy. He fears the violence and despair of the world around him, and sees a dangerous path ahead. In his senior year of high school, Omer quickly begins to realize that education can open up the wider world. He searches for community and identity, asking questions of himself and those he encounters, and soon finds himself in difficult situations. Yet the more books Omer reads and the more he moves through elite worlds, his feelings of shame and powerlessness only grow stronger, and clear answers recede further away. In BROWN BOY, Aziz wrestles with the contradiction of feeling like an Other and his desire to belong to a Western world that never quite accepts him.
Scribner | 9781982136314
CAMP ZERO by Michelle Min Sterling (Dystopian/Science Fiction)
In remote northern Canada, a team led by a visionary American architect is break¬ing ground on a building project called Camp Zero, intended to be the beginning of a new way of life. A clever and determined young woman code-named Rose is offered a chance to join the Blooms, a group hired to entertain the men in camp --- but her real mission is to secretly monitor the mercurial architect in charge. In return, she’ll receive a home for her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother and herself. Rose quickly secures the trust of her target, only to discover that everyone has a hidden agenda, and nothing is as it seems.
Atria Books | 9781668007563
CARMEN AND GRACE by Melissa Coss Aquino (Fiction)
Carmen and Grace have been inseparable since they were little girls --- more like sisters than cousins, survivors of a childhood marked by neglect and addiction and a system that never valued them. For too long, all they had was each other. That is, until Doña Durka swept into their lives and changed everything, taking Grace into her home, providing stability and support, and playing an outsize role in Carmen’s upbringing. Durka is more than a beneficent force in their Bronx neighborhood, though. She’s also the leader of an underground drug empire, a larger-than-life matriarch who understands the vital importance of taking what power she can in a world too often ruled by violent men. So, when Durka dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Carmen and Grace’s lives are thrown into chaos.
William Morrow | 9780063159068
CURSED BREAD by Sophie Mackintosh (Historical Mystery)
Still reeling in the aftermath of the deadliest war the world had ever seen, the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit collectively lost its mind. Some historians believe the mysterious illness and violent hallucinations were caused by spoiled bread; others claim it was the result of covert government testing on the local population. In that town lived a woman named Elodie. She was the baker’s wife: a plain, unremarkable person who yearned to transcend her dull existence. So when a charismatic new couple arrived in town, the forceful ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet, Elodie was quickly drawn into their orbit. Thus began a dangerous game of cat and mouse. But who was the predator and on whom did they prey?
Doubleday | 9780385548304
DIRTY LAUNDRY by Disha Bose (Fiction)
Ciara Dunphy seemingly has it all. But behind the filters, reality is less polished. Enter Ciara’s best friend, Mishti Guha. Discontent in a marriage arranged for her by her parents, she wants what Ciara has --- the ease with which she moves through the world. And there’s earth mother Lauren Doyle. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world. But then Ciara is found murdered in her own pristine home, and the house of cards she’d worked so hard to build comes crumbling down. Everyone seems to have something to gain from Ciara’s death. So if they don’t want the blame, it may be the perfect time to air their enemies’ dirty laundry.
Ballantine Books | 9780593497388
DOWNFALL by Mark Rubinstein (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When Rick Shepherd, a physician, approaches his office on a busy Manhattan street, he finds police cars, an ambulance and crime scene technicians. He soon learns that a passerby was shot three times in the back, murdered at the front door to Rick’s office. Later that evening, while watching the local news, Rick and his fiancee, Jackie, see a photo of the victim --- to their horror, the deceased looks identical to Rick. Two nights later, Rick’s father is shot and killed in the exact same way. Detectives Art Nager and Liz Callaghan launch an investigation. There are no clues leading to the perpetrator. Even more ominously, someone has been calling Rick and Jackie’s apartment and hanging up. Whoever is targeting Rick must have murdered his father, and they now have Rick in their crosshairs.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608095469
A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan (History)
The Roaring Twenties has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman --- Madge Oberholtzer --- who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.
Viking | 9780735225268
FOLLOW ME TO HELL: McNelly's Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice by Tom Clavin (History)
In turbulent 1870s Texas, the revered and fearless Ranger Leander McNelly led his men in one dramatic campaign after another, throwing cattle thieves, desperadoes, border ruffians and other dangerous criminals into jail or (if that's how they wanted it) six feet under. They would stop at nothing in pursuit of justice, even sending 26 Rangers across the border to retrieve stolen cattle --- taking on hundreds of Mexican troops with nothing but their Sharps rifles and six-guns. The nation came to call them “McNelly’s Rangers.” Set against the backdrop of 200 years of thrilling Texas Rangers history, FOLLOW ME TO HELL takes readers into the tough life along the Texas border that was tamed by a courageous yet doomed captain and his team of fearless men.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250214553
GEORGE VI AND ELIZABETH: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy by Sally Bedell Smith (History)
Granted special access by Queen Elizabeth II to her parents’ letters and diaries and to the papers of their close friends and family, Sally Bedell Smith brings the love story of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to vibrant life. This deeply researched and revealing book shows how a loving and devoted marriage helped the King and Queen meet the challenges of World War II, lead a nation, solidify the public’s faith in the monarchy, and raise their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.
Random House | 9780525511632
HOMECOMING by Kate Morton (Mystery)
Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of the grand and mysterious house, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. Many years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. After her beloved grandmother, Nora, suffers a fall, Jess discovers a book at Nora’s house that chronicles the police investigation into a long-buried crime: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous event.
Mariner Books | 9780063020894
HOUSE OF COTTON by Monica Brashears (Fiction)
Magnolia Brown is 19 years old, broke and effectively an orphan. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, her predatory landlord, and the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown. One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia’s luck around with a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home. She accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia’s problems fatten along with her wallet. When Cotton’s requests become increasingly weird, Magnolia discovers there’s a lot more at stake than just her rent.
Flatiron Books | 9781250851918
THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE by Rachel Beanland (Historical Fiction)
Richmond, Virginia, 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the long and arduous journey to the capital. At the city’s only theater, the Charleston-based Placide & Green Company puts on two plays a night to meet the demand of a populace that’s done looking for enlightenment at the front of a church. On the night after Christmas, the theater is packed with more than 600 holiday revelers. When it goes up in flames in the middle of the performance, four theatergoers make a series of split-second decisions that will affect not only their own lives but those of countless others. And in the days following the fire, the paths of these four people will become forever intertwined.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982186142
A LIVING REMEDY: A Memoir by Nicole Chung (Memoir)
Nicole Chung couldn’t hightail it out of her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown fast enough. As a scholarship student at a private university on the East Coast, no longer the only Korean she knew, she found community and a path to the life she'd long wanted. But the middle class world she begins to raise a family in looks very different from the middle class world she thought she grew up in. When her father dies at only 67, killed by diabetes and kidney disease, Nicole feels deep grief as well as rage, knowing that years of precarity and lack of access to healthcare contributed to his early death. And then the unthinkable happens. Less than a year later, her beloved mother is diagnosed with cancer, and the physical distance between them becomes insurmountable as COVID-19 descends upon the world.
Ecco | 9780063031616
THE LOST WIFE by Susanna Moore (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1855, Sarah Brinton abandons her husband and child to make the long and difficult journey from Rhode Island to Minnesota Territory, where she plans to reunite with a childhood friend. When she arrives at a small frontier post on the edge of the prairie, she quickly remarries and has two children. Anticipating unease and hardship at the Indian Agency, where her husband is the new resident physician, Sarah instead finds acceptance and kinship among the Sioux women at a nearby reservation. The Sioux tribes, however, are wary of the white settlers and resent the rampant theft of their land. During the Sioux Uprising of 1862, Sarah and her children are abducted by the Sioux, who protect her. But because she sympathizes with her captors, Sarah becomes an outcast to the white settlers.
Knopf | 9780385351430
ONE FOR MY ENEMY by Olivie Blake (Paranormal/Urban Fantasy)
In modern-day Manhattan, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal empires. On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants, known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan. After 12 years of tenuous co-existence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side.
Tor Books | 9781250892430
OZARK DOGS by Eli Cranor (Noir Thriller)
After his son is convicted of capital murder, Vietnam War veteran Jeremiah Fitzjurls takes over the care of his granddaughter, Joanna, raising her with as much warmth as can be found in an Ozark junkyard outfitted to be an armory. He teaches her how to shoot and fight, but there is not enough training in the world to protect her when the dreaded Ledfords, notorious meth dealers and fanatical white supremacists, come to collect on Joanna as payment for a long-overdue blood debt. Headed by rancorous patriarch Bunn and smooth-talking, erudite Evail, the Ledfords have never forgotten what the Fitzjurls family did to them, and they will not be satisfied until they have taken an eye for an eye.
Soho Crime | 9781641294539
PANTHER GAP by James A. McLaughlin (Thriller)
Siblings Bowman and Summer were raised by their father and two uncles on a remote Colorado ranch. They react differently to his radical teachings and the confusions of adolescence. As young adults, they become estranged but are brought back together in their 30s by the prospect of an illegal and potentially dangerous inheritance from their grandfather. Ultimately they must reconcile with each other and their past in order to defeat ruthless criminal forces trying to extort the inheritance.
Flatiron Books | 9781250821003
ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE TREADSTONE RENDITION by Joshua Hood (Thriller/Adventure)
Adam Hayes has stepped away from the field for the last time. He's promised his wife that he won't put his life on the line any more, and there's nothing that will make him break a promise to her. Well, almost nothing. With America withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban closing in, Abdul Nassir reached out to his old friend. The Afghan is desperate to flee his homeland. Like most of his countrymen, he is petrified by the Taliban takeover, but he also can't trust the Americans. He’s the only eyewitness to a massacre committed by a rogue team of CIA contractors. Not only can he identify the butcher who directed the bloodbath, he also has photographic proof. He’ll only be safe when those pictures are made public. Now, there’s just one man he can trust to get him to safety --- Adam Hayes.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593419823
ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction/Humor)
Sally Milz is a sketch writer for “The Night Owls,” a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love. But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Sally hits it off with Noah instantly. As they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying.
Random House | 9780399590948
THE SOULMATE by Sally Hepworth (Domestic Thriller)
There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t. When Pippa discovers that Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral. Did the victim jump? Was she pushed? And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate...lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250229700
THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN by Susanna Hoffs (Romantic Comedy)
Jane Start is 33, broke and recently single. Ten years prior, she had a hit song --- written by world-famous superstar Jonesy --- but Jane hasn’t had a breakout since. Now she's living out of four garbage bags at her parents’ house, reduced to performing to Karaoke tracks in Las Vegas. Rock bottom. But when her longtime manager Pippa sends Jane to London to regroup, she’s seated next to an intriguing stranger on the flight --- the other Tom Hardy, an elegantly handsome Oxford professor of literature. Jane is instantly smitten by Tom and soon truly inspired. But it’s not Jane’s past alone that haunts her second chance at stardom and at love. Is Tom all that he seems? And can Jane emerge from the shadow of Jonesy's earlier hit and into the light of her own?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316409315
TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy/Adventure)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend, Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?
Tor Books | 9781250899651
WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS OF BASEBALL: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time by Ryan McGee (Sports/Memoir)
In the spring of 1994, new college graduate Ryan McGee bombed his coveted interview with ESPN --- the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong? WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS OF BASEBALL is McGee’s hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio and internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large.
Doubleday | 9780385548403
On Sale the Week of April 3rd in Paperback
April 4th
BOMB SHELTER: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott (Memoir)
As a daughter, mother and friend, Mary Laura Philpott considered herself an “anxious optimist” --- a natural worrier with a stubborn sense of good cheer. And while she didn’t really think she had any sort of magical protective powers, she believed in her heart that as long as she loved her people enough, she could keep them safe. Then, in the early hours of one dark morning at home, her belief was upended. In the months that followed, she turned to poignant memories, priceless stories and a medley of coping mechanisms (with comically mixed success) to regain her equilibrium and find meaning in everyday wonders.
Atria Books | 9781982160791
CHOSEN: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood by Stephen Mills (Memoir)
At 13 years old, Stephen Mills is chosen for special attention by the director of his Jewish summer camp, who first grooms and then molests him for two years. Stephen tells no one, but the aftershocks rip through his adult life, as intense as his denial: self-loathing, drug abuse, petty crime and horrific nightmares, all made worse by the discovery that his abuser is moving from camp to camp, state to state, molesting other boys. Only physical and mental collapse bring Stephen to confront the truth of his boyhood and begin the painful process of recovery --- as well as a decades-long crusade to stop a serial predator, find justice and hold to account those who failed the children in their care.
Metropolitan Books | 9781250871152
CORONATION YEAR by Jennifer Robson (Historical Mystery/Romance)
Paperback Original
It is Coronation Year, 1953, and a new queen is about to be crowned. The people of London are in a mood to celebrate, none more so than the residents of the Blue Lion hotel. Edie Howard, owner and operator of the floundering Blue Lion, has found the miracle she needs: on Coronation Day, Queen Elizabeth in her gold coach will pass by the hotel’s front door, allowing Edie to charge a fortune for rooms and, barring disaster, save her beloved home from financial ruin. However, when anonymous threats focused on Coronation Day, the Blue Lion and even the queen herself disrupt their mood of happy optimism, Edie and her friends must race to uncover the truth, save their home, and expose those who seek to erase the joy and promise of Coronation Year.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063074149
DEEP WATER by Emma Bamford (Psychological Thriller)
When a Navy vessel comes across a yacht in distress in the middle of the vast Indian Ocean, Captain Danial Tengku orders his ship to rush to its aid. On board the yacht is a British couple: a horribly injured man, Jake, and his traumatized wife, Virginie, who breathlessly confesses, “It’s all my fault. I killed them.” Trembling with fear, she reveals their shocking story to Danial, and it will be up to him to determine just how truthful she is. But when his crew makes a shocking discovery, Danial realizes that if he doesn’t act soon, they could all fall under the dark spell of the island.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982170370
EASY BEAUTY: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones (Memoir)
“I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living.” So begins Chloé Cooper Jones’ bold, revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as “less than.” She resisted this reality by excelling academically and retreating to “the neutral room in her mind” until it passed. But after unexpectedly becoming a mother, something in her shifts. Jones sets off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied --- and denied herself.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982152000
FINDING ME: A Memoir by Viola Davis (Memoir)
“In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola, who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever. This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me. As I wrote FINDING ME, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. We are forced to reinvent them to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone running through life untethered, desperate and clawing their way through murky memories, trying to get to some form of self-love.”
HarperOne | 9780063037366
FLY GIRL: A Memoir by Ann Hood (Memoir)
In 1978, in the tailwind of the golden age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamour and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world, Ann Hood joined their ranks. After a grueling job search, Hood survived TWA’s rigorous Breech Training Academy and learned to evacuate seven kinds of aircraft, deliver a baby, mix proper cocktails, administer oxygen, and stay calm no matter what the situation. In the air, Hood found both the adventure she’d dreamt of and the unexpected realities of life on the job. As the airline industry changed around her, she began to write --- even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324050414
THE FOUNDLING by Ann Leary (Historical Fiction)
It’s 1927, and 18-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women. She’s immediately in awe of her employer, Dr. Agnes Vogel, who runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care. Soon after she’s hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage, Lillian, is one of the inmates. When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret?
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781982120399
FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (Historical Fiction)
Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been --- including the ones she most wants to leave behind --- in order to finally claim her own name and story.
Flatiron Books | 9781250811806
HEARTBROKE by Chelsea Bieker (Fiction/Short Stories)
United by the stark and sprawling landscapes of California’s Central Valley, the characters of HEARTBROKE boil with reckless desire. A woman steals a baby from a shelter in an attempt to recoup her own lost motherhood. A phone-sex operator sees divine opportunity when a lavender-eyed cowboy walks into her life. A mother and a son selling dream catchers along a highway that leads to a toxic beach manifest two young documentary filmmakers into their realm. And two teenage girls play a dangerous online game with destiny.
Catapult | 9781646221769
HEIRESSES: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies by Laura Thompson (Social History)
Heiresses surely are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets, Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century, a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions. HEIRESSES tells the stories of these million dollar babies.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250316349
HERE GOES NOTHING by Steve Toltz (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Angus is a reformed ne'er-do-well looking forward to the birth of his first child when he's murdered by a man who's in love with his pregnant wife, Gracie. Having never believed in God, heaven or hell, Angus finds himself in the afterlife --- a place that provides more questions than answers. As a worldwide pandemic finally reaches the shores of Australia, the afterlife starts to get very crowded. Angus finds a way to reconnect with Gracie and maybe even seek revenge on his murderer.
Melville House | 9781685890384
I’LL BE YOU by Janelle Brown (Mystery/Thriller)
As children, Sam and Elli were gorgeous identical twins. Once Hollywood discovered them, they became B-list child TV stars, often inhabiting the same role. But as adults, their lives have splintered. After leaving acting, Elli reinvented herself as the perfect homemaker. Meanwhile, Sam has never recovered from her failed Hollywood career, or from her addiction to pills and booze. Sam hasn't spoken to her sister since her destructive behavior finally drove a wedge between them. So when her father calls out of the blue, Sam is shocked to learn that Elli’s life has been in turmoil. Now she has stopped answering her phone and checked in to a mysterious spa in Ojai. Is Elli just decompressing, or is she in trouble? Could she have possibly joined a cult?
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780525479284
THE IMMORTAL KING RAO by Vauhini Vara (Dystopian Fiction)
In an Indian village in the 1950s, a precocious child is born into a family of Dalit coconut farmers. King Rao will grow up to be the most accomplished tech CEO in the world and, eventually, the leader of a global, corporate-led government. In a future in which the world is run by the Board of Corporations, King’s daughter, Athena, reckons with his legacy --- literally, for he has given her access to his memories, among other questionable gifts. With climate change raging, Athena has come to believe that saving the planet and its Shareholders will require a radical act of communion --- and so she sets out to tell the truth to the world’s Shareholders about King’s life.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324050308
THE LAST HOURS IN PARIS by Ruth Druart (Historical Fiction)
Paris, 1944. Elise Chevalier's fiancé, a young French soldier, was killed by the German army at the Maginot Line. Living amongst the enemy, Elise must keep her rage buried deep within. Sebastian Kleinhaus no longer recognizes himself. Forced to join the Third Reich and wear a uniform he despises, he longs for a way out. For someone, anyone, to be his salvation. Brittany, 1963. Reaching for the suitcase under her mother’s bed, 18-year-old Josephine Chevalier uncovers a secret that shakes her to the core. Determined to find the truth, she travels to Paris where she learns the story of a forbidden love as a city fought for its freedom. Of the last stolen hours before the first light of liberation. And of a betrayal so deep that it would irrevocably change the course of two young lives forever.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538735220
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 | 9781728269825
LOST IN PARIS by Betty Webb (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
Paris, 1922: By the age of 18, Zoe Barlow had already lost her father to suicide, and her reputation to an ill-fated love affair --- not to mention other losses, too devastating for words. Exiled from her home and her beloved younger sister by their stepmother, she was unceremoniously dumped in Paris. Four years later, Zoe has forged a new life as a painter amidst fellow artists, expats and revolutionary thinkers struggling to make sense of the world in the aftermath of war. She's adopted this Lost Generation as her new family, so when her dear friend Hadley Hemingway loses a valise containing all of her husband Ernest's writings, Zoe happily volunteers to track it down. But her search for the bag keeps leading to murder victims, and Zoe must again face hard losses --- this time among her adopted tribe.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728269900
LOVE MARRIAGE by Monica Ali (Fiction)
In present-day London, Yasmin Ghorami is 26, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe. As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin’s relationship and that of her parents, a “love marriage,” according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life.
Scribner | 9781982181482
MEANT TO BE by Emily Giffin (Fiction)
The Kingsley family is beloved for their military heroics and political service. In 1967, after Joseph S. Kingsley, Jr. is killed in a tragic accident, his charismatic son inherits the weight of that legacy. But despite his best intentions, Joe III has trouble meeting the expectations of a nation. Cate Cooper also grew up fatherless, and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse?
Ballantine Books | 9780425286661
ONCE A THIEF: A Simon Riske Novel by Christopher Reich (Thriller)
Simon Riske is toasting the record hundred-million-dollar sale of a rare 1963 Ferrari that he restored himself. The buyer is a sophisticated French woman named Sylvie Bettencourt. Riske enjoys her company until her bodyguard storms in, claiming the vehicle is a fake. Riske must prove the car is the real thing…or else. Meanwhile, Carl Bildt, banker to the rich and nefarious, is killed by a powerful car bomb, moments before he can deliver evidence to the authorities. His daughter, Anna, rushes to Switzerland to investigate her father’s violent death. As Riske strives to prove the Ferrari’s authenticity and look deeper into Sylvie’s past, he crosses paths with Anna and discovers they have an enemy in common.
Mulholland Books | 9780316456104
THE RETURN OF FARAZ ALI by Aamina Ahmad (Fiction)
Not since childhood has Faraz returned to the Mohalla, in Lahore’s walled inner city, where women continue to pass down the art of courtesan from mother to daughter. But he still remembers the day he was abducted from the home he shared with his mother and sister there, at the direction of his powerful father, who wanted to give him a chance at a respectable life. Now Wajid, once more dictating his fate from afar, has sent Faraz back to Lahore, installing him as head of the Mohalla police station and charging him with a mission: to cover up the violent death of a young girl. It should be a simple assignment to carry out in a marginalized community, but for the first time in his career, Faraz finds himself unable to follow orders.
Riverhead Books | 9780593330197
THE SHADOW HOUSE by Anna Downes (Psychological Thriller)
Alex, a single mother of two, is determined to make a fresh start for her and her children. In an effort to escape her troubled past, she seeks refuge in a rural community. Pine Ridge is idyllic; the surrounding forests are beautiful and the locals welcoming. Mostly. But Alex finds that she may have disturbed barely hidden secrets in her new home. As a chain of bizarre events is set off, events eerily familiar to those who have lived there for years, Alex realizes that she and her family might be in greater danger than ever before. And that the only way to protect them all is to confront the shadows lurking in Pine Ridge.
Minotaur Books | 9781250264855
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.
Washington Square Press | 9781501133589
TAKE MY HAND by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Fiction)
Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, she is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are just 11 and 13 years old. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.
Berkley | 9780593337714
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 Paperbacks | 9780063035140
THE WISE WOMEN by Gina Sorell (Fiction)
Popular advice columnist Wendy Wise has been skillfully advising women for four decades. So why are her own daughters’ lives such a mess? Clementine has just discovered that she is actually renting the Queens home that she thought she owned, because her husband Steve secretly funneled their money into his flailing start-up. Meanwhile, her sister Barb has overextended herself at her architecture firm and reunited semi-unhappily with her cheating girlfriend. When Steve goes MIA and Clementine receives an eviction notice, Wendy swoops in to save the day. But as soon as she sets her sights on hunting down her rogue son-in-law, Barb and Clementine quickly discover that their mother has been hiding more than a few problems of her own.
Harper Perennial | 9780063111851
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