In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 24th and July 31st that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to Carol Fitzgerald's three latest Bookreporter.com Bets On picks: Adrienne Brodeur's LITTLE MONSTERS, a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families and long-buried secrets; THE BETTER HALF by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans, a sidesplitting spin on reaching the pinnacle of life, only to stare down a slippery slope on the other side; and HER, TOO, an addictively readable thriller from Bonnie Kistler in which a high-powered lawyer learns firsthand the terrible truth about her client, an accused rapist.
Carol's latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview is with Carolyn Mackler, whose first book for adults is THE WIFE APP, which we reviewed earlier this month. Carol is a huge fan of Carolyn’s YA novels, including THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS; TANGLED; GUYAHOLIC; VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE; and LOVE AND OTHER FOUR-LETTER WORDS.
Carolyn got the idea for this book while talking to her mom friends about the kind of work that typically is handled by women in the family --- filling out school forms, arguing with the insurance company, and so much more. In THE WIFE APP, three divorced women join forces to create an app where tasks like these are work-for-hire. Carolyn gives readers a glimpse into her very different characters and how they embrace challenges. She also talks about what’s next for her. Click here to watch the video or here to listen to the podcast.
P.S. For those of you who shop online, if you use the store links that appear on our site for shopping, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound. As you read our reviews and features, we would appreciate your considering this as you buy!
Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events
Here are a number of upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.
Wednesday, July 26th 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 Elin Hilderbrand about her latest novel, THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND. After tragedy strikes, food blogger Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.
Wednesday, July 26th at 8pm ET: Loyalty Bookstores: Loyalty is thrilled to welcome Ruth Madievsky and Nicole Chung for a virtual event celebrating the release of Madievsky's debut novel, ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY, which is about a young woman who commits a drunken act of violence just before her sister vanishes without a trace.
Thursday, July 27th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Culinary Mystery Joanne Fluke for a live virtual discussion of PINK LEMONADE CAKE MURDER as part of the B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. Joanne will be in conversation with Tami Chase from Team Hannah Swensen.
Thursday, July 27th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Sandra Brown will talk about her new book, OUT OF NOWHERE, a fast-paced, emotional thriller in which the lives of a young mother and a high-rolling consultant collide under devastating circumstances --- culminating in a desperate manhunt that will change their futures forever.
Sunday, July 30th at 8pm ET: The Lineup from Soho Crime: Historical Crime Fiction from Around the World: Join authors Katharine Beutner (KILLINGLY), Naomi Hirahara (EVERGREEN), Sujata Massey (THE MISTRESS OF BHATIA HOUSE) and Nilima Rao (A DISAPPEARANCE IN FIJI) for a live conversation about historical mysteries moderated by New York Times bestselling author Cara Black.
Monday, July 31st at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome #1 New York Times bestselling authors Sandra Brown and Kathy Reichs for a live virtual discussion of Brown's OUT OF NOWHERE and Reichs' THE BONE HACKER as part of the B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. The conversation will be moderated by the USA Today bestselling author of THE HOUSE GUEST, Hank Phillippi Ryan.
Monday, July 31st at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: David Joy will talk about his latest work of fiction, THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW, a searing new novel about the cracks that form in a small North Carolina community and the evils that unfurl from its center.
Tuesday, August 1st at 4pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Denise Mina will talk about her new novel, THE SECOND MURDERER, a smart and atmospheric mystery that finds Philip Marlowe on the hunt for a missing heiress --- and up against a rival PI. It is worth noting that Denise Mina is the first woman to recreate Raymond Chandler’s infamous detective.
This Week's Bonus News: Bookreporter.com "Bets On"
LITTLE MONSTERS by Adrienne Brodeur,
THE BETTER HALF by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans,
and HER, TOO by Bonnie Kistler
LITTLE MONSTERS by Adrienne Brodeur (Fiction)
I heard Adrienne Brodeur talk about LITTLE MONSTERS at a pre-publication event, and I knew from her presentation that I wanted to read it. It’s set in the summer of 2016 on Cape Cod, an area that she knows and loves. This place is as much a character in the book as the Gardner family whom we meet. The setting alone makes it work as a summer read.
Adam Gardner is reluctantly retiring at the age of 70, even though he still wants to make one more discovery with the whales he loves. His son, Ken, is angling his chances to run for a congressional seat. He has enlisted his wife, Jenny, in this quest. She is the perfect spouse of a candidate, but is this who she wants to be? And oh, she has a wee bit of a drinking problem. Ken’s sister, Abby, is an artist who is very much coming into her own. Her brother has more control over her life than she would like. She’s also best friends with Jenny, which means they know a lot about each other’s lives before and after Jenny married Ken --- and there is a lot to stay buried there, too.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read our review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to watch Carol's "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Adrienne Brodeur.
- Click here to listen to a podcast of the interview.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on LITTLE MONSTERS.
THE BETTER HALF by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans (Romantic Comedy)
Once again, Alli Frank and Asha Youmans hit it out of the park with their third novel together, THE BETTER HALF, which has both heart and soul. At 43, Nina Morgan Clarke has arrived. She is the first Black headmaster of the very tony Royal-Hawkins School, which is mostly populated by students of wealthy white parents. She has a tolerable relationship with her ex-husband, and her daughter is on the east coast at a private school. Before she embarks on this new role, she goes on vacation with her best and longtime friend, Marisol. On that trip, she meets a man to whom she has an instant attraction and comes home with a challenge that will complicate her life.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read our review.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on THE BETTER HALF.
HER, TOO by Bonnie Kistler (Psychological/Legal Thriller)
In HER, TOO, just as she did in THE CAGE, Bonnie Kistler puts the action right up front. Kelly McCann is a fighter. She defends men who are accused of sex crimes, and she has a winning record. While it feels like she is a traitor to women, this role has made her very successful. She commands a large salary. She has a lot at home to protect, so she needs the money. But then, on the night of one of her biggest victories, she is sexually assaulted. From there, the tables are turned. The way that she was so proactive about her defense is how she is when she joins with other victims to get revenge.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read our review.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
- Click here to visit Bonnie Kistler's website.
Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on HER, TOO.
On Sale the Week of July 24th in Hardcover
July 25th
ALL IS NOT FORGIVEN by Joe Kenda (Mystery)
ALL IS NOT FORGIVEN is the debut crime novel of Investigation Discovery star Joe Kenda, a former homicide detective, who is known for his hit series “Homicide Hunter” and “American Detective.” In this first novel, the rookie Det. Kenda investigates a 1975 case that begins with the murder of a beloved Colorado philanthropist and society figure whose husband, a gambler and womanizer, appears to have an air-tight alibi. Mentored by his veteran partner, Det. Lee Wilson, Kenda’s case quickly attracts attention from the FBI, CIA and Interpol for its similarity to a string of killings involving wealthy married women. All the murders appear to have been committed by a hired professional whose trademark is the use of an unusual form of lethal ammunition that leaves no trace.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798200924356
THE BOOKBINDER by Pip Williams (Historical Fiction)
It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press. Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them. But as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives.
Ballantine Books | 9780593600443
DEAD FALL by Brad Thor (Political Thriller)
In the war-ravaged borderlands of Ukraine, a Russian mercenary unit has gone rogue. Its members are the most criminally violent, psychologically dangerous combatants to ever set foot upon the modern battlefield. As they move from village to village, committing horrific war crimes, they meet little resistance as all able-bodied men are off fighting the war. Simultaneously, a team of Russian soldiers has been dispatched by the Kremlin to loot truckloads of art and priceless cultural treasures hidden away in a host of churches, museums and private homes. When multiple American aid workers are killed, America’s top spy is sent in to settle the score. But in a country so vast, will Scot Harvath be able to find the men in question and, more importantly, stop them before they can kill again?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982182199
EVERYONE HERE IS LYING by Shari Lapena (Domestic Thriller)
William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper. Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing. Suddenly the neighborhood doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbors become increasingly unhinged. Who took Avery Wooler?
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593489932
AN HONEST MAN by Michael Koryta (Thriller)
After discovering seven men murdered aboard their yacht --- including two Senate rivals --- Israel Pike is regarded as a prime suspect. A troubled man infamous on Salvation Point Island for killing his own father a decade before, Israel has few options, no friends and a life-threatening secret. Elsewhere on the island, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin seeks shelter from his alcoholic father in an abandoned house only to discover that he is not alone. A mysterious woman greets him with a hatchet and a promise: “Make a sound and I’ll kill you.” As the investigation barrels forward, Lyman, Israel and the fate of the case collide in immutable ways.
Mulholland Books | 9780316535946
I DID IT FOR YOU by Amy Engel (Mystery/Thriller)
It’s been 14 years since Greer Dunning’s older sister, Eliza, was murdered, and Greer’s family has never been the same. And now there’s been a similar killing in Greer’s small Kansas hometown. A copycat, according to the authorities, but Greer is convinced there is more to the story. That Eliza’s murderer had help all those years ago. So Greer returns home after more than a decade away, desperate to answer the questions that have haunted her for years. And in her drive to uncover the truth, she forms a bond with the unlikeliest of allies. One that puts her in grave danger, as almost everyone in her small town becomes a suspect.
Dutton | 9780593187395
KALA by Colin Walsh (Literary Thriller)
In the seaside town of Kinlough, three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. Helen, Jo and Mush were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann as their group’s white-hot center. Soon after that summer’s peak, Kala disappeared without a trace. Now it’s 15 years later. Helen has reluctantly returned to Ireland for her father’s wedding; Joe is a world-famous musician, newly back in town; and Mush has never left, too scared to venture beyond the counter of his mother’s café. But human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing. And as past and present begin to collide, the estranged friends are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala’s disappearance.
Doubleday | 9780385549639
KING OF THE ARMADILLOS by Wendy Chin-Tanner (Historical Fiction)
Victor Chin’s life is turned upside down at the tender age of 15. Diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, otherwise known as leprosy, he’s forced to leave the familiar confines of his father’s laundry business in the Bronx --- the only home he’s known since emigrating from China with his older brother --- to quarantine alongside patients from all over the country at a federal institution in Carville. At first, Victor is scared not only of the disease, but of the confinement, and wants nothing more than to flee. Between treatments he dreams of escape and imagines his life as a fugitive. Soon, though, he finds a new sense of freedom far from home. But with the promise of a life-changing cure on the horizon, Victor’s time at Carville is running out, and he has some difficult choices to make.
Flatiron Books | 9781250843005
THE LADY FROM BURMA: A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery by Allison Montclair (Historical Mystery)
A happily married woman has come to the Right Sort Marriage Bureau to find a new wife for her husband. Dying of cancer, she wants the owners --- Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge --- to make sure that her entomologist, academic husband finds someone new once she passes. Shortly thereafter, she's found dead in Epping Forest, in what appears to be a suicide. But that doesn't make sense to either Sparks or Bainbridge. At the same time, Bainbridge is attempting to regain legal control of her life, opposed by the conservator who has been managing her assets --- perhaps not always in her best interest. When that conservator is found dead, Bainbridge herself is one of the prime suspects. Attempting to make sense of two deaths at once, Sparks and Bainbridge are once again on the case.
Minotaur Books | 9781250854193
THE LAST RANGER by Peter Heller (Thriller)
Officer Ren Hopper is an enforcement ranger with the National Park Service, tasked with duties both mundane and thrilling: breaking up fights at campgrounds, saving clueless tourists from moose attacks, and attempting to broker an uneasy peace between the wealthy vacationers who tromp through the park with cameras, and the residents of hardscrabble Cooke City who want to carve out a meaningful living. When Ren, hiking through the backcountry on his day off, encounters a tall man with a dog and a gun chasing a small black bear up a hill, his hackles are raised. But what begins as an investigation into the background of a local poacher soon opens into something far murkier: a shattered windshield, a series of red ribbons tied to traps, the discovery of a frightening conspiracy, and a story of heroism gone awry.
Knopf | 9780593535110
THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF BOOK LOVERS by Nina George (Romance)
In a little town in the south of France in the 1960s, a dazzling encounter with Love itself changes the life of infant orphan Marie-Jeanne forever. As a girl, Marie-Jeanne realizes that she can see the marks Love has left on the people around her --- tiny glowing lights on the faces and hands that shimmer more brightly when the one meant for them is near. Before long, Marie-Jeanne is playing matchmaker. As she grows up, Marie-Jeanne helps her foster father, Francis, begin a mobile library that travels throughout the many small mountain towns in the region of Nyons. She finds herself bringing soulmates together every place they go --- and there are always books that play a pivotal role in that quest. However, the only person that Marie-Jeanne can’t seem to find a soulmate for is herself.
Ballantine Books | 9780593157886
MRS. PLANSKY'S REVENGE by Spencer Quinn (Fiction)
Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her 70s, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. One night, Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson, Will, who desperately needs $10,000 to get out of a jam. By morning, she has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that her life savings have vanished, and it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Mrs. Plansky refuses to be just another victim. In a courageous bid for justice, she follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back --- and perhaps find a new lease on life, too.
Forge Books | 9781250843333
NIGHT CANDY: A Colleen Hayes Mystery by Max Tomlinson (Mystery)
In a tragic turn of events, ex-con PI Colleen Hayes’ daughter, Pam, has lost her baby. Meanwhile, a serial killer given the name “Night Candy” is targeting sex workers, both male and female. The situation doesn’t improve when Colleen’s friend and ally --- SFPD Inspector Owens --- is arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, who was found burned in a fire the same night the pair had tried to rekindle their love. Could Owens have really done what they say? Even Colleen has her doubts. But there are people depending on her: Owens, who needs help finding his ex-wife’s real killer, and a trio of sex workers Colleen keeps her eye on --- especially with Night Candy on the loose. Then, one of the three girls is next to disappear. If anything is to test Colleen’s resolve, December 1979 seems to be it.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094547
PINK LEMONADE CAKE MURDER: A Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes! by Joanne Fluke (Mystery)
The Tri-County Summer Solstice Celebration has come to town, and even among local artisans, athletes and marching bands, Hannah attracts fans of her own while serving lip-smacking pink lemonade desserts. But the mood sours when a body turns up, leading revelers to wonder if the festivities mark both the longest day of the year and the deadliest. A retired professional MLB player has met a terrifying end --- and, considering the rumors swirling about his past, the list of suspects could fill a small stadium. Among them could soon be Delores, Hannah’s mother, who publicly held a grudge against the victim after he infamously dunked her in the tank at a previous county fair.
Kensington | 9781496736116
PROM MOM by Laura Lippman (Psychological Thriller)
Amber Glass has spent her entire adult life putting as much distance as possible between her and her hometown of Baltimore, where she fears she will be forever known as “Prom Mom” --- the girl who allegedly killed her baby on the night of the prom after her date, Joe Simpson, abandoned her to pursue the girl he really liked. But when circumstances bring Amber back to the city, she realizes she can have a second chance --- as long as she stays away from Joe, who is now married. The problem is, Amber can’t stay away from Joe. And Joe finds that it’s increasingly hard for him to ignore Amber. Against the surreal backdrop of 2020 and early 2021, the two are slowly drawn to each other and eventually cross the line they’ve been trying not to cross. And then Joe asks Amber to help him do the unthinkable.
William Morrow | 9780062998064
ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE DEFIANCE by Brian Freeman (Thriller/Adventure)
From the glacial waters of Alaska to a sexy nightclub in the Bahamas, Treadstone agents are being hunted down and murdered. Someone high up in the U.S. government will stop at nothing to cover up a secret Treadstone mission from the past known as Defiance. With a team of killers hot on his trail, Jason Bourne chases the mystery of Defiance around the world. But as he closes in on the shocking truth, Bourne realizes that one man holds the key --- his archenemy, the assassin known as Lennon. The Russian hitman has been at the heart of Defiance from the very beginning, and his next target will put Bourne --- and the woman he loves --- in the crosshairs. As Bourne races to stop the ruthless conspiracy behind Defiance, he must come face to face with Lennon one last time.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593419885
THE SHADOW GIRLS: A Natalie Lockhart Novel by Alice Blanchard (Mystery)
Someone is playing deadly games. Lieutenant Luke Pittman lies in the hospital in a coma after being attacked by one of their own. Veronica Manes, Burning Lake’s most respected modern-day witch, is dead, her murder left unsolved. Natalie Lockhart has become embroiled in a case with threads that become increasingly difficult to untangle. Now, a new horror is uncovered, one that shocks the town as never before, and the dark, shadowy path forward for Natalie is paved with challenges that haunt her past --- Veronica’s unsolved case. Her sister’s traumatic murder. The long-lost disappearance of her old best friend. Natalie’s obsession with finding the truth leads to a twisted, elemental struggle between good and evil --- and nothing will ever be the same again.
Minotaur Books | 9781250783080
SOMEBODY'S FOOL by Richard Russo (Fiction)
Ten years after the death of the magnetic Donald “Sully” Sullivan, the town of North Bath is going through a major transition as it is annexed by its much wealthier neighbor, Schuyler Springs. Peter, Sully’s son, is still grappling with his father’s tremendous legacy as well as his relationship to his own son, Thomas, wondering if he has been all that different a father than Sully was to him. Meanwhile, the towns’ newly consolidated police department falls into the hands of Charice Bond, after the resignation of Doug Raymer, the former North Bath police chief and Charice’s ex-lover. When a decomposing body turns up in the abandoned hotel situated between the two towns, Charice and Raymer are drawn together again and forced to address their complicated attraction to one another.
Knopf | 9780593317891
THE SPIDER: A Killer Instinct Novel written by Lars Kepler, translated by Alice Menzies (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Three years ago, Detective Saga Bauer received an ominous postcard describing a gun and nine white bullets --- one of which was intended for her partner, Detective Joona Linna. The sender alleged that Saga was the only person who could save him. But as time passed, the threat faded. Until now. A sack with a decomposing body has been found hanging from a tree in the forest. A milky white bullet casing turns up at the scene. When the body count begins to rise, the police realize that the killer is sending riddles, offering them the chance to stop the murders before they happen. But the police always seem to arrive a moment too late. As they begin to close in, the case becomes more and more tangled: someone is spinning a fiendishly intricate web, pulling Joona ever closer to a trap he may not be able to escape.
Knopf | 9780593321041
THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN by Genevieve Gornichec (Historical Fantasy/Romance)
Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in 10th-century Norway. After a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to always help one another. When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined --- but she's determined to save her sister, even as she finds herself drawn to one of the raiders who participated in the attack. And in the far north, Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch, is surprised to find that her destiny seems to be linked with that of the formidable King Eirik. But the bonds that hold the two women together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other, these bonds will be tested in ways they never could have foreseen.
Ace | 9780593438244
On Sale the Week of July 24th in Paperback
July 25th
THE BALLAD OF LAUREL SPRINGS by Janet Beard (Fiction)
Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation --- to be careful of men, and desire --- are not just Grace’s to learn. Her family’s tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folksongs like “Knoxville Girl” and “Pretty Polly,” reminding them always to know their place --- or risk the wages of sin.
Gallery Books | 9781982151577
BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE by Nell Stevens (Historical Fiction)
In 1473, 14-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly 400 years later, when George Sand, her two children and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there. A spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she’s been hanging around the monastery since her accidental death, spying on the monks and the townspeople and keeping track of her descendants. Blanca is enchanted the moment she sees George, and the magical novel unfolds as a story of deeply felt, unrequited longing --- the impossible love of a teenage ghost for a woman who can’t see her and doesn’t know she exists.
Scribner | 9781982190958
CALLING FOR A BLANKET DANCE by Oscar Hokeah (Fiction)
Ever Geimausaddle’s family faces myriad obstacles. His father’s injury at the hands of corrupt police, his mother's struggle to hold on to her job and care for her husband, the constant resettlement of the family, and the legacy of centuries of injustice all intensify Ever’s bottled-up rage. Meanwhile, all of Ever’s relatives have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother urges the family to move across Oklahoma to find security; his grandfather hopes to reunite him with his heritage through traditional gourd dances; his Kiowa cousin reminds him that he’s connected to an ancestral past. And once an adult, Ever must take the strength given to him by his relatives to save not only himself but also the next generation of family.
Algonquin Books | 9781643753911
CAN’T LOOK AWAY by Carola Lovering (Domestic Thriller)
It is 2013, and 23-year-old Brooklyn barista Molly Diamond has just locked eyes with Jake Danner, the front man of an up-and-coming Southern rock band. It’s not long before Molly and Jake fall deeply in love, inspiring each other’s writing and planning for a life together filled with creativity, passion and adventure. But nearly a decade later, Molly is teaching yoga and living in a posh Connecticut suburb with her young daughter and husband, Hunter --- who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Molly is lonely in picture-perfect Flynn Cove --- until Sabrina walks into her studio. A newcomer in town, Sabrina has her own reasons for seeking out Molly, and their blossoming friendship will set both women on a collision course of deep-rooted secrets, lies and manipulation.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250759917
DAISY DARKER by Alice Feeney (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart. Now, after years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in her crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. When the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. But at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows. Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide goes out and all is revealed.
Flatiron Books | 9781250843944
DEVIL’S DELIGHT: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton with R.W. Green (Mystery)
Agatha Raisin and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong’s long-awaited wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the country lane towards them wearing…nothing at all. The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. In the meantime, Agatha’s hectic life swirls along at a dizzying pace. But when she begins to close in on a suspected murderer, she finds herself in deadly peril, as the sinister nature of the ice cream business leads her to a chilling conclusion.
Minotaur Books | 9781250816184
DISTANT THUNDER: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
During an intense storm in Dark Harbor, Maine, a perplexing murder lands a dead man on Stone Barrington's doorstep. As secrets swirl around this mystery man's identity, Stone quickly sets out to unravel a web of cunning misdirections and lies. Soon enough, he is embroiled in an elaborate game of cat and mouse between the CIA and nefarious foreign forces, including a bewitching new companion who comes under his protection. But when Stone's actions draw the attention of an old enemy, one who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from getting out, Stone realizes he may have finally met his match.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593540053
ENCORE IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
It was a glittering event full of A-listers, hosted by Eliza Lane and Brant Fitzhugh, a celebrity couple who had conquered both Hollywood and Broadway. And now Eve Dallas has made her entrance --- but not as a guest. After raising a toast, Fitzhugh fell to the floor and died, with physical symptoms pointing to cyanide. From all accounts, he wasn’t the kind of star who made enemies. And since the champagne cocktail that killed him was originally intended for Eliza, it’s possible she was the real target, with a recently fired assistant, a bitter rival and an obsessed fan in the picture. With so many attendees, staff and servers, Eve has her work cut out determining who committed murder in the middle of the crowd --- and what their motivation was.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250866110
THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN: A Memoir written by Paul Newman, edited by David Rosenthal (Memoir)
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years. The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. Newman’s voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty.
Vintage | 9780593467718
THE HIGH NOTES by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Iris Cooper has been singing ever since she can remember. When she is 12, her father convinces the owner of a bar in Lake City, Texas, to let her perform, and she stuns the audience. In the ensuing years, father and daughter move from one dusty town to the next. But it is not an easy life for Iris with her father in charge and using her income to pay for gambling, women and booze. When she starts to tour at age 18, she takes on a real manager. Yet he exploits her too, and the singers and musicians she tours with are really the only family she has. It is they who give Iris the courage to finally fly free, leave the tour and follow her dreams. Iris’ big chance comes as her talent soars. But at the top at last, she still has to fight every step of the way.
Dell | 9780593600214
THE HOLLYWOOD JINX by Sariah Wilson (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
The small town of Patience needs a financial boost. Temporary librarian and aspiring film-score composer Jane Wagner’s plan? Invite movie star Nick Haddon to the town’s harvest festival and stand back for the tourist surge. No one thought he’d say yes --- much less that he’d bring a documentary crew to stream his visit. Given Nick’s affinity for trouble, his reputation and films are tanking. Patience is the perfect stopover on a journey of self-improvement and his chance to put good karma out in the universe. Spending time with a sweet and lovely guide like Jane is a bonus. But Jane’s heartbroken past keeps her on guard against men. Especially when they’re jinxed. The truth is, Jane is falling hard. But she can’t ignore the differences between them. Where can it possibly lead?
Montlake | 9781542039260
HOW TO BE EATEN by Maria Adelmann (Fiction)
In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic, blue-bearded billionaire. Ruby, once devoured by a wolf, now wears him as a coat. Gretel questions her memory of being held captive in a house made of candy. Ashlee, the winner of a “Bachelor”-esque dating show, wonders if she really got her promised fairy tale ending. And Raina's love story will shock them all. Though the women start out wary of one another, gradually they begin to realize that they may have more in common than they supposed. What really brought them here? What secrets will they reveal? And is it too late for them to rescue each other?
Back Bay Books | 9780316450850
OATH OF LOYALTY: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Political Thriller)
With President Anthony Cook convinced that Mitch Rapp poses a mortal threat to him, CIA Director Irene Kennedy is forced to construct a truce between the two men. The terms are simple: Rapp agrees to leave the country and stay in plain sight for as long as Cook controls the White House. In exchange, the administration agrees not to make any moves against him. This fragile détente holds until Cook’s power-hungry security adviser convinces him that Rapp has no intention of honoring their agreement. In an effort to put him on the defensive, they leak the true identity of his partner, Claudia Gould. As Rapp races to neutralize the enemies organizing against her, he discovers that a new generation of assassins is on her trail.
Pocket Books | 9781982164928
PERIL AT THE EXPOSITION by Nev March (Historical Mystery)
1893: Newlyweds Captain Jim Agnihotri and Diana Framji are settling into their new home in Boston, Massachusetts, having fled the strict social rules of British Bombay. Jim, now a detective at the Dupree Agency, is teaching Diana the art of deduction he’s learned from his idol, Sherlock Holmes. Everyone is talking about the preparations for the World's Fair in Chicago. Captain Jim will experience it first-hand: he's being sent to Chicago to investigate the murder of a man named Thomas Grewe. As Jim probes the underbelly of Chicago’s docks, warehouses and taverns, he discovers deep social unrest and some deadly ambitions. When Jim goes missing, young Diana must venture to Chicago's treacherous streets to learn what happened.
Minotaur Books | 9781250855053
RED WARNING by Matthew Quirk (Thriller)
For years, CIA officer Sam Hudson has been hunting Konstantin, a Russian deep-cover operative responsible for a string of assassinations in the West --- and he believes a well-placed source in Geneva can finally get him close to the killer. But when their meeting is ambushed, Sam’s partner is murdered and he barely makes it out alive himself. Back in the States, the bosses put him on leave and want him to drop his obsession with Konstantin, but Sam can’t let a man who’s taken so many lives slip away again. When he gets a mysterious call at the Lincoln Memorial just before a bomb goes off, he realizes Konstantin has followed him to the U.S. --- and is targeting him and everyone close to him.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063111714
REPUTATION by Sarah Vaughan (Psychological Thriller)
As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career --- including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora. A former teacher, the glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. Fourteen-year-old Flora is encountering heartless bullying. When another teenager takes her own life, Emma lobbies for a new law to protect women and girls from the effects of online abuse. Now, Emma and Flora find their personal lives uncomfortably intersected…but then the unthinkable happens. A man is found dead in Emma’s home. A man she had every reason to be afraid of and to want gone.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668000076
STORM WATCH: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box (Mystery/Thriller)
When a prominent University of Wyoming professor goes missing, authorities are stumped. That is, until Joe Pickett makes two surprising discoveries. First, he finds the professor’s vehicle parked on a remote mountainside. Then he finds the professor’s frozen and mutilated body. When he attempts to learn more, his investigation is obstructed by federal agents, extremists and Governor Colter Allen. Nate Romanowski is rebuilding his falconry company --- and financing this through crypto mining with the assistance of Geronimo Jones. He’s then approached by a shadowy group of local militant activists who demand that Wyoming join other western states and secede from the Union. They ask Nate to throw in with them, but he’s wary. Should he trust them, or is he being set up?
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593331323
SUCH SHARP TEETH: A Werewolf Novel by Rachel Harrison (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Rory Morris isn’t thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it's temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she’d put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into Ian, an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she’s attacked. Rory survives, but life begins to look and feel different. She’s unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver --- and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She’s changing into someone else --- something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she’s putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?
Berkley | 9780593545836
SUSPECT by Scott Turow (Legal Thriller)
For as long as Lucia Gomez has been the police chief in the city of Highland Isle, near Kindle County, she has known that any woman in law enforcement must walk a precarious line between authority and camaraderie to gain respect. She has maintained a spotless reputation --- until now. Three male police officers have accused her of soliciting sex in exchange for promotions to higher ranks. With few people left who she can trust, Chief Gomez turns to an old friend, Rik Dudek, to act as her attorney in the federal grand jury investigation, insisting to Rik that the accusations against her are part of an ugly smear campaign designed to destroy her career and empower her enemies --- both outside the police force and within.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538706343
SWEET, SOFT, PLENTY RHYTHM by Laura Warrell (Fiction)
It’s 2013, and Circus Palmer, a 40-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies’ man, lives for his music and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the woman who is secretly closest to his heart, the free-spirited drummer Maggie, is pregnant by him. Instead of facing the necessary conversation, Circus flees, setting off a chain of interlocking revelations from the various women in his life. Most notable among them is his teenage daughter, Koko, who idolizes him and is awakening to her own sexuality even as her mentally fragile mother struggles to overcome her rejection by Circus.
Vintage | 9780593466537
On Sale the Week of July 31st in Hardcover
August 1st
THE APOLOGY by Jimin Han (Fiction/Magical Realism)
In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come. Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that, decades later, this decision would return to haunt her --- threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316367080
AT THE COFFEE SHOP OF CURIOSITIES by Heather Webber (Fiction/Magical Realism)
When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing --- a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat --- is the perfect chance to start a new life. On the surface, Maggie Mae Brightwell is a bundle of energy as she runs Magpie’s, Driftwood’s coffee and curiosity shop, where there’s magic to be found in pairing the old with the new. But lurking under her cheerful exterior is a painful truth. Keeping busy is the best way to distract herself from the lingering loss of her mama and her worries about her aging father. Ava and Maggie soon find they’re kindred spirits, as they’re both haunted --- not by spirits, but by regret.
Forge Books | 9781250867261
BELLIES by Nicola Dinan (Fiction)
It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at their local university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. A magnetic young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom’s awkward energy. Tom finds himself deeply and desperately drawn into Ming’s orbit, and on the cusp of graduation, he’s already mapped out their future together. But shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition. From London to Kuala Lumpur, New York to Cologne, we follow Tom and Ming as they face tectonic shifts in their relationship and friend circle in the wake of Ming’s transition. Through a spiral of unforeseen crises, Tom and Ming are forced to confront the vastly different shapes their lives have taken since graduating.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335490889
THE BONE HACKER: A Temperance Brennan Novel by Kathy Reichs (Mystery/Thriller)
Young men --- tourists --- have been disappearing on the islands of Turks and Caicos. Seven years earlier, the first victim was found in a strange location with his left hand hacked off; subsequently, two other visitors vanished without a trace. But recently, tantalizing leads have emerged, and only Temperance Brennan can unravel them. Maddeningly, the victims seem to have nothing in common --- other than the odd places where their bodies turn up, and the fact that none seems likely to have been involved in criminal activity. Do these attacks have something to do with the islands’ seething culture of gang violence? Tempe isn’t so sure. Disturbingly, she discovers evidence that what’s at stake may actually have global significance. Then Tempe herself becomes a target.
Scribner | 9781982190057
THE CONNELLYS OF COUNTY DOWN by Tracey Lange (Fiction)
When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving 18 months on a drug charge, she returns home to live with her siblings. Her brother, a single dad, struggles with the ongoing effects of a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister’s fragile facade of calm and order is cracking under the burden of big secrets. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put her in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving Tara to wonder what he wants from her now. While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys’ secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.
Celadon Books | 9781250865373
DEADLY DEPTHS by John F. Dobbyn (Mystery/Thriller)
Matthew Shane is a law professor in Salem, Massachusetts, where he enjoys a rewarding mentorship with Professor Barrington Holmes, a well-known archaeologist. So when Professor Holmes is found dead in his office and the police rule it a suicide, something doesn't sit right with Matthew. He becomes determined to find the true cause of Holmes’ death and bring closure to his widow. Matthew soon learns that Professor Holmes belonged to a group of notable archaeologists dubbed “The Monkey’s Paw,” who were all entangled in an expedition to find an unknown object of unprecedented historical and financial value. Each member had been given one piece of the instructions to find the object, but some of the men had encountered horrific twists of fate before the group could reunite to continue in their search.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608095483
DELICATE CONDITION by Danielle Valentine (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Anna Alcott is desperate to have a family. But as she tries to balance her increasingly public life as an indie actress with a grueling IVF journey, she starts to suspect that someone is going to great lengths to make sure that never happens. Crucial medicines are lost. Appointments get swapped without her knowledge. Cryptic warnings have her jumping at shadows. And despite everything she's gone through to make this pregnancy a reality, not even her husband is willing to believe that someone is playing twisted games with her. Then her doctor tells her she's had a miscarriage --- except Anna is convinced she's still pregnant despite everything the grave-faced men around her claim. Vague warnings become direct threats as someone stalks her through the bleak ghost town of the snowy Hamptons.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728276885
DRAGONS OF FATE: Dragonlance Destinies, Volume 2 by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Fantasy/Adventure)
A clash of powerful magical forces sets off the Graygem of Gargath, sending Destina Rosethorn and her companions deeper into the past than she intended --- to the age of Huma Dragonsbane and the Third Dragon War. Now, with the Device of Time Journeying shattered, they must find another way back to their own era before the Graygem irrevocably alters history and the Third Dragon War ends in defeat for the forces of good. While the battle rages on, Destina tries desperately to make amends and prevent disaster. Raistlin and Sturm encounter their heroes, Huma and Magius, and must reconcile the myths with the men. And Tasslehoff, shocked that the Knights of Solamnia have never heard of dragonlances, sets out to find the famed weapons.
Random House Worlds | 9781984819383
EVERGREEN: A Japantown Mystery by Naomi Hirahara (Historical Mystery)
It’s been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released from Manzanar detention center and resettled in Chicago with other Japanese Americans. Now the Itos have finally been allowed to return home to California --- but nothing is as they left it. Aki is working as a nurse’s aide at the Japanese Hospital in Boyle Heights when an elderly Issei man is admitted with suspicious injuries. When she seeks out his son, she is shocked to recognize her husband’s best friend, Babe Watanabe. Could Babe be guilty of elder abuse? Only a few days later, Little Tokyo is rocked by a murder at the low-income hotel where the Watanabes stay. What secrets have the Watanabes been hiding, and can Aki protect her husband from getting tangled up in a murder investigation?
Soho Crime | 9781641293594
FAMILY LORE by Elizabeth Acevedo (Fiction)
Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake --- a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led --- her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters: Matilde, Pastora and Camila. But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters are hiding things, too. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, FAMILY LORE traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City.
Ecco | 9780063207264
GONE TONIGHT by Sarah Pekkanen (Domestic Thriller)
Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking and lives for her daughter. All her life, it's been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home and begin a new career. And Ruth will do anything to prevent that from happening. Ruth thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother's past or background. But when Ruth's desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth's carefully constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250283979
JUST ANOTHER MISSING PERSON by Gillian McAllister (Domestic Thriller)
Twenty-two-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day…and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again. Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get. Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife: it’s a secret. Her worst one. And her family's safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia --- and must frame somebody else for her murder.
William Morrow | 9780063252394
LAS MADRES by Esmeralda Santiago (Fiction)
They refer to themselves as “las Madres,” a close-knit group of women who, with their daughters, have created a family based on friendship and blood ties. Their story begins in Puerto Rico in 1975 when 15-year-old Luz is seriously injured in a car accident. Tragically, her parents are both killed in the crash. Now orphaned, Luz copes with the aftershock of a brain injury when two new friends enter her life, Ada and Shirley. In 2017, in the Bronx, Luz’s adult daughter, Marysol, wishes she better understood her. But how can she when her mother barely remembers her own life? To help, Ada and Shirley’s daughter, Graciela, suggests a vacation in Puerto Rico. But despite all their careful planning, back-to-back hurricanes disrupt their homecoming, and a secret is revealed that blows their lives wide open.
Knopf | 9780307962614
THE LOVER by Rebecca Sacks (Fiction)
The story of Allison and Eyal unfolds primarily in Tel Aviv where Allie, a thoughtful and intelligent academic searching for a sense of where she belongs in the world, falls deeply and unexpectedly in love with a young Israeli doing his military service. Their love story is filled with pleasure, longing, fear, moments of deep connection, failures of communication, and ultimately, a quiet and devastating betrayal. When he is away on military missions, they write love letters; when he returns home for weekends, they are inseparable. Allie is embraced by Eyal’s family, and their acceptance is very important to her. But when Eyal returns home from an invasion of Gaza, to which he has a surprising emotional response, Allie has changed so radically that her betrayal of her lover feels both shocking and tragic.
Harper | 9780063284234
THE MANY LIVES OF MAMA LOVE: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin (Memoir)
No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards. Lara is convicted of 32 felonies. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and LORD OF THE FLIES. But Lara brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the “shot caller.” When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with The Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982197667
MY NAME IS IRIS by Brando Skyhorse (Dystopian Fiction)
After years of drifting apart, Iris Prince and her husband are going through a surprisingly drama-free divorce. It feels like her life is finally exactly what she wants it to be. Then, one beautiful morning, she looks outside her kitchen window --- and sees that a wall has appeared in her front yard overnight. Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley startup has launched a high-tech wrist wearable called "the Band." Pitched as a convenient, eco-friendly tool to help track local utilities and replace driver's licenses and IDs, the Band is available only to those who can prove parental citizenship. Suddenly, Iris, a proud second-generation Mexican American, is now of "unverifiable origin." Amid a climate of fear and hate-fueled violence, Iris must confront how far she'll go to protect what matters to her most.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982177850
OUT OF NOWHERE by Sandra Brown (Romantic Suspense)
At a Texas county fair, children’s book author Elle Portman is enjoying a rare night out with her two-year-old son, Charlie. Just as they’re about to head home, a shooter opens fire into the crowd. Also caught in the melee is corporate consultant Calder Hudson. He’s frustrated and confused when he wakes up in the hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on his arm. The doctor tells him that he was lucky, but others weren’t, which instills in Calder a furious determination to get justice…a goal shared by Elle. Their chance encounter at the police station leads to a surprising and inexplicable gravitation to one another. But Elle and Calder can’t help but wonder if the unimaginable tragedy that brought them together is too painful and too complicated to sustain --- especially while the shooter remains at large.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538742945
PULLING THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN: A Memoir of a Kidnapping by Shane McCrae (Memoir)
When Shane McCrae was three years old, his grandparents kidnapped him and took him to suburban Texas. His mom was white and his dad was Black, and to hide his Blackness from him, his maternal grandparents stole him from his father. In the years that followed, they manipulated and controlled him, refusing to acknowledge his heritage. For their own safety and to ensure the kidnapping remained a success, Shane’s grandparents had to make sure that he never knew the full story, so he was raised to participate in his own disappearance. But despite elaborate fabrications and unreliable memories, Shane begins to reconstruct his own story and forge his own identity. Gradually, the truth unveils itself, and with the truth comes a path to reuniting with his father and finding his own place in the world.
Scribner | 9781668021743
THE SECOND MURDERER: A Philip Marlowe Novel by Denise Mina (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Private Detective Philip Marlowe is called to the Montgomery estate, an almost mythic place sitting high on top of Beverly Hills. Wealthy socialite Chrissie Montgomery is missing. Young, naïve and set to inherit an enormous fortune, she’s a walking target. Her dying father and his sultry bottle-blonde girlfriend want her found before that happens. To make sure, they have Anne Riordan --- now head of her own all-female detective agency --- on the case, too. The search for Chrissie takes the two investigators from the Montgomery mansion to the roughest neighborhoods of LA, through dive bars and boarding houses and out to Skid Row. And that’s all before they find the body at The Brody Hotel. Who will get to Chrissie first? And what happens when a woman doesn’t want to be found?
Mulholland Books | 9780316265645
SMALL TOWN SINS by Ken Jaworowski (Thriller)
In Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a former coal and steel town whose best days seem long past, 5,000 residents have toughed it out. For some of them, their biggest troubles have just arrived. After years of just scraping by, three restless souls have their lives upended: Nathan, a volunteer fireman who uncovers a secret stash of money in a burning building and takes it; Callie, a nurse whose tender patient may not have long to live, despite the girl’s fundamentalist parents’ ardent beliefs; and Andy, a recovering heroin addict who undertakes a nightmare mission to hunt down and stop a serial predator. As their stories barrel toward unexpected ends, Nathan, Callie and Andy struggle to endure --- or escape. They each face their pasts and gamble on their futures, and confront the underside of their rough Rust Belt town.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250881670
THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW by David Joy (Noir Mystery)
Toya Gardner, a young Black artist from Atlanta, has returned to her ancestral home in the North Carolina mountains to trace her family history and complete her graduate thesis. But when she encounters a still-standing Confederate monument in the heart of town, she sets her sights on something bigger. Meanwhile, local deputies find a man sleeping in the back of a station wagon and believe him to be nothing more than some slack-jawed drifter. Yet a search of the man’s vehicle reveals that he is a high-ranking member of the Klan, and the uncovering of a notebook filled with local names threatens to turn the mountain on end. After two horrific crimes split the county apart, every soul must wrestle with deep and unspoken secrets that stretch back for generations.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525536918
THREE FIRES by Denise Mina (Historical Thriller)
Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar living in Florence at the end of the 15th century. An anti-corruption campaigner, his hellfire preaching increasingly spilled over into tirades against all luxuries that tempted his followers toward sin. These sermons led to the infamous "Bonfire of the Vanities” --- a series of fires lit throughout Florence for the incineration of everything from books, extravagant clothing, musical instruments, make-up and mirrors to paintings, tapestries and sculptures. Railing against the vice and avarice of the ruling Medici family, he was instrumental in their removal from power. Denise Mina brings a modern take to this fascinating historical story, drawing parallels between the febrile atmosphere of medieval Florence and the culture wars of the present day.
Pegasus Crime | 9781639364558
TIME'S MOUTH by Edan Lepucki (Fiction)
Ursa can travel through memory and revisit her past. After she flees her hometown for the counterculture glory of 1950s California, the intoxicating potential of her unique ability eventually draws a group of women into her orbit and into a ramshackle Victorian mansion. Soon this cultish community of sisterhood takes an ominous turn, prompting Ursa’s son, Ray, and his pregnant lover, Cherry, to flee their home and reinvent themselves far from her insidious influence. But a series of mysterious events forces Cherry to abandon their baby, leaving Ray to raise Opal alone. Now a teenager and still heartbroken over the abandonment of the mother she never knew, Opal must journey into her own past to reveal the generations of secrets that gave rise to the shimmering source of her family's painful legacy.
Counterpoint | 9781640095724
TO CATCH A STORM by Mindy Mejia (Mystery/Thriller)
When her husband’s car is found abandoned and on fire --- in the middle of a rainstorm --- Eve Roth becomes the police's number one suspect. After all, her husband was suspended from the University of Iowa for inappropriate conduct with a student. And who else but an atmospheric physicist could incinerate a car in a downpour? Jonah Kendrick appears on their doorstep with a theory. He’s seen Eve’s husband, bound and bleeding in a barn. Claiming to be a psychic detective who dreams of the lost, Jonah has helped find missing people his entire life. He dreamed about a young woman trapped in the same barn months ago, and she’s still missing. As a firm believer in the laws of nature, Eve rejects anything to do with psychics, but their investigations soon collide.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802162007
TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett (Fiction)
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and they are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Harper | 9780063327528
THE TRAP by Catherine Ryan Howard (Mystery/Thriller)
One year ago, Lucy’s sister, Nicki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy’s life into a waking nightmare. So she’s going to take matters into her own hands. Angela works as a civilian paper-pusher in the Missing Persons Unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully fledged member of An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open --- and destroy her chances of ever joining the force. A nameless man drives through the night, his latest victim in the back seat. He’s going to tell her everything, from the beginning.
Blackstone Publishing | 9781982694715
WESTERN ALLIANCES by Wilton Barnhardt (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Salvador, the patriarch of a wealthy family, runs one of Wall Street’s biggest banks the summer before everything collapses; Roberto and Rachel, his two children, have never worked a day in their lives; and Lena, his ex-wife, is a scheming hypochondriac. WESTERN ALLIANCES follows Roberto and Rachel across Europe as the two dilettantes come to terms with their father’s choices and the repercussions of his actions. Wilton Barnhardt invites readers on a literary romp from an elegant Paris apartment to a hilariously inept London hotel, ancient churches and crypts to gleaming Mediterranean coasts, hot dog stands in Providence, RI to the best places in Manhattan, and terrifying encounters in the Serbian countryside to dangerous liaisons in Moscow, as two grown-up rich kids are forced to come of age at last.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250090003
WITNESS: Stories by Jamel Brinkley (Fiction/Short Stories)
In these 10 stories, each set in the changing landscapes of contemporary New York City, a range of characters --- from children to grandmothers to ghosts --- live through the responsibility of perceiving and the moral challenge of speaking up or taking action. Though they strive to connect, to remember, to stand up for, and to really see each other, they often fall short, and the structures they build around these ambitions and failures shape not only their own futures but the legacies and prospects of their families and their city. In its portraits of families and friendships lost and found, the paradox of intimacy, the long shadow of grief and the meaning of home, WITNESS enacts its own testimony.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374607036
On Sale the Week of July 31st in Paperback
August 1st
ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT by Sarah Thankam Mathews (Fiction)
Graduating into the long maw of an American recession, Sneha is one of the fortunate ones. She’s moved to Milwaukee for an entry-level corporate job that is the key that unlocks every door. She begins dating women --- soon developing a burning crush on Marina, a beguiling and beautiful dancer who always seems just out of reach. But before long, trouble arrives. Painful secrets rear their heads, jobs go off the rails, and evictions loom. Sneha struggles to be truly close and open with anybody, even as her friendships deepen, even as she throws herself headlong into a dizzying romance with Marina. It’s then that her friend, Tig, begins to draw up a radical solution to their problems, hoping to save them all.
Penguin Books | 9780593489147
BEST SERVED COLD: A Rick Montoya Italian Mystery by David P. Wagner (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When an old college friend leading a religious tour in Assisi asks interpreter Rick Montoya to fill in for their guide who's gone missing, Rick is happy to oblige. He's looking forward to seeing his old friend, and the food and wine of Umbria sound like the perfect reward for a tense translation job he's just completed for the police in Palermo involving witness testimony against the mafia. But when the shady tour guide is found dead the next morning under suspicious circumstances, Rick's relaxing gig turns into an unofficial job assisting the local police inspector with her interviews of the tour group members. Could one of the pious pilgrims be a cold-blooded killer? Or has one of the victims' many shady dealings finally caught up with him?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728271019
BIG SWISS by Jen Beagin (Fiction/Humor)
Greta lives with her friend, Sabine, in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is unrenovated, uninsulated and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss. One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’ voice in town, and they quickly become enmeshed. While Big Swiss is unaware that Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship.
Scribner | 9781982153090
BLOOD ORANGE NIGHT: A Memoir of Insomnia, Motherhood, and Benzos by Melissa Bond (Memoir)
As Melissa Bond raises her infant daughter and a special-needs one-year-old son, she suffers from unbearable insomnia. She loses her job as a journalist (a casualty of the 2008 recession), and her relationship with her husband grows distant. Her doctor casually prescribes benzodiazepines --- a family of drugs that includes Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan --- and increases her dosage on a regular basis. Following her doctor’s orders, Melissa takes the pills night after night; her body begins to shut down, and she collapses while holding her infant daughter. Only then does Melissa learn that her doctor --- like many doctors --- has over-prescribed the medication, and quitting cold turkey could lead to psychosis or fatal seizures.
Gallery Books | 9781982188283
BLOOMSBURY GIRLS by Natalie Jenner (Historical Fiction)
Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable 51 rules. But in 1950, the world is changing, especially the world of books and publishing, and at Bloomsbury Books, the girls in the shop have plans. As they interact with various literary figures of the time --- Daphne Du Maurier, Ellen Doubleday, Sonia Blair (George Orwell's widow), Samuel Beckett, Peggy Guggenheim and others --- these three women with their complex web of relationships, goals and dreams are all working to plot out a future that is richer and more rewarding than anything society will allow.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250889690
THE COMPLICITIES by Stacey D'Erasmo (Fiction)
After her husband Alan’s decades of financial fraud are exposed, Suzanne’s wealthy, comfortable life shatters. Alan goes to prison. Suzanne files for divorce, decamps to a barely middle-class Massachusetts beach town, and begins to create a new life and identity. Then Alan is released early, and the many people whose lives he ruined demand restitution. But when Suzanne finds herself awestruck at a major whale stranding, she makes an apparently high-minded decision that ripples with devastating effect not only through Alan’s life as he tries to rebuild but also through the lives of Suzanne and Alan’s son, Alan’s new wife, his estranged mother and, ultimately, Suzanne herself. When damage is done, who pays? Who loses? Who is responsible?
Algonquin Books | 9781643753942
THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN by Carolyn Huynh (Fiction)
Everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed. It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage for true love --- so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would only give birth to daughters. Oanh’s current descendant, Mai Nguyen, is divorced, estranged from her younger sisters, and has three adult daughters who are successful in their careers --- though the same can’t be said for their love lives. Desperate for guidance, Mai consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral and the birth of a son.
Atria Books | 9781982188740
THE HANGING CITY by Charlie N. Holmberg (Romantic Fantasy/Adventure)
Paperback Original
Seven years on the run from her abusive father, and with no hope of sanctuary among the dwindling pockets of human civilization, Lark is out of options. Her only leverage is a cursed power: she can thrust fear onto others, leaving all threats fleeing in terror. If the campfire myths of her childhood are true, Lark’s sole chance for refuge could lie in Cagmar, the city of trolls --- a brutal species and the sworn enemies of humanity. Her gift makes her invaluable as a monster slayer to fight off the unspeakable creatures that torment the trolls’ hanging city. Lark will do anything to make Cagmar her home, but her new role comes with a caveat: use her power against a troll, and she’ll be killed. Her loyalty is quickly put to the test when she draws the hatred of a powerful troll who loathes humankind.
47North | 9781662508707
HARD COUNTRY by Reavis Z. Wortham (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Tucker Snow is as tough as they come, hardened by decades working as an undercover narcotics agent for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Through special dispensation from the governor, he and his brother Harley cut a wide swath through the criminal element of Northeast Texas. But tragedy comes calling after taking a dream job as a special ranger with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, when Tucker's wife and toddler are killed in a horrific traffic accident. Close to breaking, Tucker sets his badge aside to move his surviving teenage daughter outside of Ganther Bluff, a quiet town with enough room for them to mourn their unexpected loss. But instead of settling into small-town life to heal from such an unimaginable loss, a fresh kind of hell hits them with full force.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728256702
HAWK MOUNTAIN by Conner Habib (Fiction)
Single father Todd is relaxing at the beach with his son, Anthony, when he catches sight of a man approaching from the water’s edge. As the man draws closer, Todd recognizes him as Jack, who bullied Todd relentlessly in their teenage years but now seems overjoyed to have “run into” his old friend. Jack suggests a meal to catch up. And can he spend the night? As Jack invades Todd’s life, pain and intimidation from the past unearth knife-edge suspense in the present. Set in a small town on the New England coast, Conner Habib’s debut introduces characters trapped in isolation by the expansive woods and the encroaching ocean, their violence an expression of repressed desire and the damage it can inflict.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324064862
HER DANGEROUS JOURNEY HOME: No Man is Her Master, Vol. III by Lee Swanson (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1310, Berwick-upon-Tweed, England. Edward II knights Frederick Kohl for his bravery fighting the Scots. But Sir Frederick is not the man the king believes him to be; instead, it is his sister, Christina, who assumes her dead brother's identity. Still posing as Frederick, Christina escorts Lady Cecily, a young noblewoman joining Queen Isabella's court at Westminster Palace, to London. Unexpectedly, Christina and Cecily fall in love. But the wife of one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the city is Christina's bitter enemy. Katharine Volker, whose lascivious advances Christina rejects, goads her into voyaging from her London home to the Baltic waters of her birthplace. Christina journeys not to engage in trade. She sails for a far deadlier purpose --- to exact revenge on the pirates who killed her father and brother.
Merchant's Largesse Books | 9781736243626
THE HOUSE GUEST by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Psychological Thriller)
Alyssa Macallan is terrified when she’s dumped by her wealthy and powerful husband. With a devastating divorce looming, she begins to suspect her toxic and manipulative soon-to-be-ex is scheming to ruin her --- leaving her alone and penniless. And when the FBI shows up at her door, Alyssa knows she really needs a friend. And then she gets one. A seductive new friend, one who’s running from a dangerous relationship of her own. Alyssa offers Bree Lorrance the safety of her guest house, and the two become confidantes. Then Bree makes a heart-stoppingly tempting offer. Maybe Alyssa and Bree can solve each other's problems. But no one is what they seem. And the fates and fortunes of these two women twist and turn until the shocking truth emerges.
Forge Books | 9781250849571
THE KEEPER OF HIDDEN BOOKS by Madeline Martin (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving. With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. She and her dearest friend never surrender their love of reading, even when Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto. But the closer Warsaw creeps toward liberation, the more dangerous life becomes for the women and their families --- and escape may not be possible for everyone.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335455024
KISS THE GIRL: A Meant to Be Novel by Zoraida Córdova (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Ariel del Mar and her sisters --- together known as the band Siren Seven --- have been a pop culture phenomenon since they were kids. Siren Seven is wrapping up their farewell tour, and Ariel can’t wait to spend the summer just living a normal life. But her father, the head of Atlantica Records, has other plans: begin her breakout solo career immediately, starting with a splashy announcement on a morning talk show. The night before, Ariel and her sisters head out for a night of incognito fun at a rock concert in Brooklyn. It’s there that Ariel crosses paths with Eric Reyes, the dreamy lead singer of an up-and-coming band. Unaware of her true identity, Eric spontaneously invites her on the road for the summer. And for the first time in her life, Ariel disobeys her father --- and goes with him.
Hyperion Avenue | 9781368053365
THE MUSEUM OF HUMAN HISTORY by Rebekah Bergman (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
After nearly drowning, eight-year-old Maeve Wilhelm falls into a strange comatose state. As years pass, it becomes clear that Maeve is not physically aging. A wide cast of characters finds themselves pulled toward Maeve, each believing that her mysterious “sleep” holds the answers to their life’s most pressing questions: Kevin Marks, a museum owner obsessed with preservation; Monique Gray, a refugee and performance artist; Lionel Wilhelm, an entomologist who dreamed of being an astrophysicist; and Evangeline Wilhelm, Maeve’s identical twin. As Maeve remains asleep, the characters grapple with a mysterious new technology and medical advances that promise to ease anxiety and end pain, but instead cause devastating side effects.
Tin House Books | 9781953534910
THE NEW NEIGHBOR by Karen Cleveland (Thriller)
Facing an empty nest and a broken marriage, CIA analyst Beth Bradford is moving from the cul-de-sac she’s long called home, and the CIA is removing her from the case that’s long been hers: tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor. Madeline Sterling moves into Beth’s old house. She has what Beth once had: an adoring husband, three beautiful young children, and the close-knit group of neighbors on the block. Now she has it all. And Beth --- who can’t stop watching the woman stepping into her old life --- thinks the new neighbor has something else too: ties to Iranian intelligence. Is Beth just jealous? Paranoid? Or is something more at play?
Ballantine Books | 9780593358047
NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC by Kevin Wilson (Fiction)
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge is determined to make it through yet another summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother’s house. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us. The posters begin appearing everywhere, and people wonder who is behind them and start to panic. Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge gets a call that threatens to upend her carefully built life: a journalist named Mazzy Brower is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Might Frances know something about that?
Ecco | 9780062913517
THE PRINCESS by Wendy Holden (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Britain, 1961: A beautiful blonde baby is born to Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom. But Diana grows up amid the fallout of her parents’ messy divorce. She struggles at school. Her refuge throughout is romantic novels. She dreams of falling in love and being rescued by a handsome prince. In royal circles, there is concern about the Prince of Wales. Charles is nearing 30, and the right girl needs to be found, fast. She must be young, aristocratic and completely free of past liaisons. Pure and innocent. Eighteen-year-old Diana Spencer is just about the only candidate. Her yearning to be loved dovetails with royal desperation for a bride. But the route to the altar is perilous. There are hidden dangers. Ruthless schemers. Can Diana’s romantic dream survive?
Berkley | 9780593437308
PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre (History)
During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Ben Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis.
Crown | 9780593136355
THE PUZZLE OF BLACKSTONE LODGE: A Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery by Martin Edwards (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
1930: Nell Fagan is looking for a second chance at a career in investigative journalism, and the call of Blackstone Fell's sanatorium is irresistible. In 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, Rachel Savernake. Looking for answers, Rachel travels to lonely Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. With help from her friend, Jacob Flint --- who's determined to expose a fraudulent clairvoyant --- Rachel will risk her life to bring an end to the disappearances at Blackstone Fell where people go in but never come out.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728271040
RECKONING: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
When she was 12 years old, Kirra Mandarian’s parents were murdered. Fourteen years later, Kirra is a commonwealth attorney, and her goal is to find out who killed her parents and why. She quickly learns that big-time criminals are very dangerous indeed and realizes she needs Dillon Savich’s help. Emma Hunt, a piano prodigy and the granddaughter of powerful crime boss Mason Lord, was only six years old when she was abducted. She was saved by her adoptive father, San Francisco federal judge Ramsey Hunt. Now a 12-year-old with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she narrowly saves herself from a would-be kidnapper. Lacey Sherlock and officers from METRO are assigned to protect her, but things don’t turn out as planned.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063004146
RIVER SING ME HOME by Eleanor Shearer (Historical Fiction)
The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces that the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs. Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children --- the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear.
Berkley | 9780593548066
STORIES FROM THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS by Sidik Fofana (Fiction/Short Stories)
At Banneker Terrace, everybody knows everybody, or at least knows of them. Longtime tenants’ lives are entangled together in the ups and downs of the day-to-day, for better or for worse. The neighbors in the unit next door are friends or family, childhood rivals or enterprising business partners. In other words, Harlem is home. But the rent is due, and the clock of gentrification --- never far from anyone’s mind --- is ticking louder now than ever. In eight interconnected stories, Sidik Fofana conjures a residential community under pressure. We root for the tight-knit cast of characters as they weave in and out of one another’s narratives, working to escape their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love. All the while we brace, as they do, for the challenges of a rapidly shifting future.
Scribner | 9781982145828
SUN DAMAGE by Sabine Durrant (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
In a tiny village in Provence, nine guests arrive at a luxury holiday home. The visitors know each other well, or at least they think they do. The only stranger among them is Lulu, the young woman catering their stay. But Lulu is not exactly the woman on the video the guests thought they’d hired. It turns out Lulu has plenty to hide --- and nowhere to run as the heat rises. In this seemingly idyllic getaway, under the scorching sun, loyalties will be tested, secrets exposed, and tensions pushed to the brink.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063277687
THE TWYFORD CODE by Janice Hallett (Mystery)
Forty years ago, Steven “Smithy” Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. When he showed it to his remedial English teacher, Miss Iles, she believed that it was part of a secret code that ran through all of Twyford’s novels. And when she disappeared on a class field trip, Smithy became convinced that she had been right. Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Smithy decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. The Twyford Code holds a great secret, and Smithy may just have the key.
Atria Books | 9781668003237
THE WAR PIANIST by Mandy Robotham (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
July, 1940. Blitz-ridden London: Marnie Fern’s life is torn apart when her grandfather is killed in an air raid. But once she discovers that he’d been working undercover as a radio operative --- or pianist --- for the Dutch resistance, Marnie knows she must complete his mission, no matter the cost. Nazi-occupied Amsterdam: At the other end of the wireless, fellow pianist Corrie Bakker is caught in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse as she desperately tries to keep her loved ones out of the line of fire --- even if it means sacrificing herself. Bound together by the invisible wires of their radios, the two women lead parallel lives in their home cities, as both are betrayed by those they trust the most. But when the Nazis close in on one of them, only the other can save her.
Avon | 9780008564308
WHAT NEVER HAPPENED by Rachel Howzell Hall (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Colette “Coco” Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion 20 years ago. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to writing obituaries. Thankfully, her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job sure to keep her busy, considering the number of elderly folks who are dying on the island. But as Coco learns more about these deaths, she quickly realizes that the circumstances surrounding them are remarkably similar…and not natural. Then she receives her own obituary in the mail. As Coco begins to draw connections between a serial killer’s crimes and her own family tragedy, she fears that the secrets on Catalina Island might be too deep to survive.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662504136
WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL by Jillian Medoff (Fiction)
Cassie Quinn knows a few things. One: money can’t buy happiness, but it’s certainly better to have it. Two: family matters most. Three: her younger brother, Billy, is not a rapist. When Billy, a junior at Princeton, is arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie joins forces with her big brother, Nate, and their parents, Lawrence and Eleanor. The Quinns scramble to hire the best legal minds money can buy, but Billy fits the all-too-familiar sex-offender profile --- white, athletic and privileged --- that makes headlines and sways juries. As reporters converge outside their Upper East Side landmark building, Cassie vows she’ll do whatever it takes to save Billy. But what if that means exposing her own darkest secrets to the world?
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063142039
WINE PEOPLE by Michelle Wildgen (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Wren and Thessaly collide when they land coveted jobs at a glamorous New York City boutique wine importer. Hardworking, by-the-book Wren comes from a modest background and has everything to prove, while Thessaly hails from a family of prestigious California growers --- but she is plagued by self-doubt. Thrown together at work, where they're expected to have exquisite palates, endless tolerance for alcohol and socializing, and the ability to sell, sell, sell, they regard each other with suspicion. It’s only on an important European business trip --- with everything on the line for both of them --- that they unexpectedly forge an alliance that will change the course of their careers and personal lives.
Zibby Books | 9781958506028
WITH LOVE, FROM COLD WORLD by Alicia Thompson (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Lauren Fox is the bookkeeper for Cold World, a tourist destination that's always a winter wonderland despite being located in humid Orlando, Florida. Her coworker, Asa Williamson, is all about finding ways to enliven his days at Cold World. When the owner asks Lauren and Asa to propose something to raise more revenue, their rivalry heats up as they compete to come up with the best idea. But the situation is more dire than they thought, and it might take these polar opposites working together to save the day. If Asa thought Lauren didn't know how to enjoy herself, he's surprised by how much he enjoys spending time together. And if Lauren thought Asa wasn't serious about anything, she's surprised by how seriously he seems to take her.
Berkley | 9780593438671
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