October 17, 2023

October 17, 2023

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 16th and October 23rd 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 two latest Bookreporter.com Bets On picks: BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll, in which two women from opposite sides of the country are brought together by violent acts of the same man, and THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES by Thrity Umrigar, an immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness.

We are thrilled to announce that our first-ever LIVE “Bookreporter Talks To” interview will take place TOMORROW, Wednesday, October 18th at 1pm ET.

Our guest will be William Kent Krueger, who will be talking about his latest novel, THE RIVER WE REMEMBER, and answering questions from those who won a copy of the book in a Bookreporter contest we ran over the summer. We have a number of readers who will be asking their question on camera, and Carol will be asking questions on behalf of our readers who are camera-shy or are unable to join us live.

We also thought it would be fun to open this up to a wider group so they can listen in on the interview. So if you’d like to attend, you can sign up by clicking here. Kent is very excited about this event, as we all are, and we hope to see many of you there!

Last Wednesday afternoon, we hosted this month’s “Bookaccino Live” book preview event. Carol talked about 27 books releasing between now and October 31st, along with 20 from November and December, that we wanted to get on your radar. You can watch the presentation here and see a list of the featured titles here.

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are five upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, October 18th at 1pm ET: "Bookreporter Talks To": Join us for a special LIVE "Bookreporter Talks To" program where our guest will be William Kent Krueger. He will discuss THE RIVER WE REMEMBER and answer questions submitted by the winners of our recent contest.

Wednesday, October 18th 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 Jean Kwok about her new novel, THE LEFTOVER WOMAN, an evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women.

Thursday, October 19th at 3pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Tim Johnston will talk about his new book, DISTANT SONS, an absorbing crime novel set in a small Wisconsin town haunted by the unsolved disappearance of three boys in the 1970s.

Monday, October 23rd at 1:30pm ET: Book Passage: Join Book Passage for a special conversation with beloved author and bookstore owner Ann Patchett and Book Passage's very own Elaine Petrocelli. The conversation will be centered on Ann's new and acclaimed novel, TOM LAKE, and the book world at large.

Tuesday, October 24th at 4pm ET: Book Passage: Lisa Unger will be in conversation with Mary Kay Andrews about her latest thriller, CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. Instead of presents this Christmas, a true crime podcaster is opening up a cold case.

This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com "Bets On"
BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll
and THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES by Thrity Umrigar

On Sale the Week of October 16th in Hardcover

October 17th

BOURNVILLE by Jonathan Coe (Fiction)
Bournville is a quiet village in the heart of England famous for its chocolate. For 11-year-old Mary, it is the center of her world. During the next three-quarters of a century, Mary will have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She will live through the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the 1966 World Cup final (the last time England won), royal weddings and royal funerals, Brexit and COVID-19. Parts of the chocolate factory will be transformed into a theme park, and Bournville itself will gradually disappear into the sprawl of the growing city of Birmingham. As we travel through 75 years of social change, one pressing question starts to emerge: Will these changing times bring Mary's family --- and their country --- closer together, or leave them more adrift and divided than ever before?
Europa Editions | 9781609459420

THE CHRISTMAS GUEST by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller)
Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone. But a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, the country residence of the Chapman family. Ashley is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother. But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Over 30 years later, the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time.
William Morrow | 9780063297456

DISTANT SONS by Tim Johnston (Literary Thriller/Mystery)
What if Sean Courtland’s old Chevy truck had broken down somewhere else? What if he’d never met Denise Givens, a waitress at a local tavern, and gotten into a bar fight defending her honor? Or offered a ride to Dan Young, another young man like Sean, burdened by secrets and just drifting through the small Wisconsin town? Instead, Sean enlists Dan’s help with a construction job in the basement of a local --- the elderly, reclusive Marion Devereaux --- and gradually the two men come to realize that they’ve washed up in a place haunted by the disappearance of three young boys decades earlier. As Sean and Dan’s friendship deepens, and as Sean gets closer to Denise and her father, they come to the attention of a savvy local detective, Corrine Viegas, who has her own reasons for digging into Dan’s past.
Algonquin Books | 9781643753591

EVERYTHING I LEARNED, I LEARNED IN A CHINESE RESTAURANT: A Memoir by Curtis Chin (Memoir)
1980s Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone --- from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples --- could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family and to himself.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316507653

THE EXCHANGE: After The Firm by John Grisham (Legal Thriller)
What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is in THE EXCHANGE, the riveting sequel to THE FIRM, the blockbuster thriller that launched the career of America’s favorite storyteller. It is now 15 years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications --- and once again endangers his colleagues, friends and family. Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.
Doubleday | 9780385548953

HOME AT NIGHT: A Mercy Carr Mystery by Paula Munier (Mystery)
It’s Halloween in Vermont, winter is coming, and five humans, two dogs and a cat are a crowd in Mercy Carr’s small cabin. She needs more room --- and she knows just the place: Grackle Tree Farm, with 30 acres of woods and wetlands and a Victorian manor to die for. They say it’s haunted by the ghosts of missing children and lost poets and a murderer or two, but Mercy loves it anyway. Even when Elvis finds a dead body in the library. A coded letter found on the victim points to a hidden treasure that may be worth a fortune (if it’s real). She and Captain Thrasher conduct a search of the old place --- and end up at the wrong end of a Glock. A masked man shoots Thrasher, and she and Elvis must take him down before he murders them all.
Minotaur Books | 9781250887894

THE HOUSE OF DOORS by Tan Twan Eng (Historical Fiction)
Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert's, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one. Having long hidden his homosexuality, Maugham’s unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings --- and the freedom to travel with Gerald. He arrives at Cassowary House in desperate need of a subject for his next book. Lesley, too, is enduring a marriage more duplicitous than it first appears. Maugham suspects an affair and, learning of Lesley's past connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, decides to probe deeper.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639731930

ONE WOMAN SHOW by Christine Coulson (Historical Fiction)
Christine Coulson spent 25 years writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her final project was to write wall labels for the museum’s new British Galleries. During that time, she dreamt of using The Met’s strict label format to describe people as intricate works of art. The result is this bullet of a novel that imagines a privileged 20th-century woman as an artifact --- an object prized, collected and critiqued. ONE WOMAN SHOW revolves around the life of Kitty Whitaker as she is defined by her potential for display and moved from collection to collection through multiple marriages. Coulson precisely distills each stage of this sprawling life, every brief snapshot in time a wry reflection on womanhood, ownership, value and power.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668027783

THE SISTERHOOD: The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy (History)
Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. They were unlikely spies, which is exactly what made them perfect for the role. Because women were seen as unimportant, pioneering female intelligence officers moved unnoticed around Bonn, Geneva and Moscow, stealing secrets from under the noses of their KGB adversaries. Back at headquarters, women built the CIA’s critical archives --- first by hand, then by computer. And they noticed things that the men at the top didn’t see. As the CIA faced an identity crisis after the Cold War, it was a close-knit network of female analysts who spotted the rising threat of al-Qaeda --- though their warnings were repeatedly brushed aside.
Crown | 9780593238172

STRAW DOGS OF THE UNIVERSE by Ye Chun (Historical Fiction)
After her village is devastated by famine, 10-year-old Sixiang is sold to a human trafficker for a bag of rice and six silver coins. Her mother is reluctant to let her go, but the promise of a better life for her beloved daughter ultimately sways her. Arriving in America with the profits from her sale and a single photograph of Guifeng, her absent father, Sixiang journeys across an unfamiliar American landscape in the hopes of reuniting her family. As she makes her way through an unforgiving new world, her father, a railroad worker in California, finds his attempts to build a life for himself both upended and defined by a long-lost love and the seemingly inescapable violence of the American West.
Catapult | 9781646220625

THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS by Susan Wiggs (Fiction)
A year after breaking up with her husband, Brenda Malloy has put her life back together. She has found purpose and healing as a volunteer with a dog rescue organization in Houston, Texas. The rescue partners with a program in Avalon, New York, a small, snowy town deep in the Catskills. Now Brenda is arranging the transport of rescued dogs from Houston to Avalon. Brenda’s friends worry about her driving a van 2,000 miles with 12 dogs in crates, but she shrugs off their concern. However, a blinding snowstorm, an escaped mutt, and a life-saving encounter with Adam Bellamy --- a single dad and paramedic --- means that Brenda has to stay in Avalon longer than she planned. As she drops off each precious pup at their new homes, some of the comfort and joy of the season begins to creep up on Brenda.
William Morrow | 9780063253513

UNDER THE SMOKESTREWN SKY by A. Deborah Baker (Dark Fantasy/Adventure)
Since stumbling from their world into the Up and Under, Avery and Zib have walked the improbable road across forests, seas and skies, finding friends in the unlikeliest of places and enemies great in number, as they make their way toward the Impossible City in the hope of finding their way home. But the final part of their journey is filled with danger and demise. Not everyone will make it through unscathed. Not everyone will make it through alive.
Tordotcom | 9781250848475

THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young (Mystery & Romance/Magical Realism)
The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm --- and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors. It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. But she is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own. After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for?
Delacorte Press | 9780593598672

UP ON THE WOOF TOP: A Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn (Mystery)
Chet the dog and his human partner, Bernie Little, find themselves high in the mountains this holiday season to help Dame Ariadne Carlisle, a renowned author of bestselling Christmas mysteries, find Rudy, her lead reindeer and good luck charm, who has gone missing. At Kringle Ranch, Dame Ariadne’s expansive mountain spread, Chet discovers that he is not fond of reindeer. But the case turns out to be about much more than reindeer after Dame Ariadne’s personal assistant takes a long fall into Devil’s Purse, a deep mountain gorge. When our duo discovers that someone very close to Dame Ariadne was murdered in that same spot decades earlier, they start looking into that long-ago unsolved crime. But as they reach into the past, the past is also reaching out for them.
Forge Books | 9781250843302

On Sale the Week of October 16th in Paperback

October 17th

THE ABYSS: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962 by Max Hastings (History)
In THE ABYSS, Max Hastings turns his focus to one of the most terrifying events of the mid-20th century --- the 13 days in October 1962 when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. Hastings looks at the conflict with fresh eyes, focusing on the people at the heart of the crisis --- American President John F. Kennedy, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, and a host of their advisors. As the action moves back and forth from Moscow to Washington, DC, to Havana, Hastings seeks to explain, as much as to describe, the attitudes and conduct of the Soviets, Cubans and Americans, and to recreate the tension and heightened fears of countless innocent bystanders whose lives hung in the balance.
Harper Perennial | 9780062980175

ALL THE BLOOD WE SHARE: A Novel of the Bloody Benders of Kansas by Camilla Bruce (Historical Thriller)
Something dark and twisted has taken root at the Bender Inn. At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the rising medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate's messages from the Beyond give their tedious dreams hope, and her mother's potions cure their little ills --- for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut to a better life. And why shouldn’t their family prosper? They’re careful. It’s only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh. But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now, as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft --- or vanish themselves.
Berkley | 9780593102602

AMERICAN GIRL by Wendy Walker (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
Charlie Hudson, an autistic 17-year-old, is determined to leave Sawyer, PA, as soon as she graduates high school. In the meantime, she works as many hours as she can at a sandwich shop called The Triple S to save money for college. But when shop owner Clay Cooper --- a man both respected and feared in their small economically depressed town --- is found dead, each member of his staff becomes a suspect in the perplexing case. Before she can go anywhere, Charlie must protect herself and her friends by uncovering the danger that is still lurking in their tight-knit community.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798212409827

AMERICAN MIDNIGHT: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild (History)
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced --- in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some 75 newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames. This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons --- a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own.
Mariner Books | 9780063278523

AND THERE WAS LIGHT: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham (Biography)
Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents --- a remote icon --- or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln --- an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780553393989

AT WHAT COST, SILENCE?: The Texian Trilogy, Book 1 by Karen Lynne Klink (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Adrien Villere suspects he is not like other boys. For years, he desperately locks away his feelings and fears --- but eventually, tragedy and loss drive him to seek solace from his mentor, young neighbor Jacob Hart. However, Jacob’s betrayal of Adrien’s trust results in secret abuse, setting off a chain of actions from which neither Adrien’s wise sister, Bernadette, nor his closest friend, Isaac, can turn him. AT WHAT COST, SILENCE presents two contrasting plantation families in a society where strict rules of belief and behavior are clear, and public opinion can shape an entire life.
She Writes Press | 9781647426033

THE BONE SHARD WAR by Andrea Stewart (Fantasy/Adventure)
Lin Sukai has won her first victory as Emperor, but the future of the Phoenix Empire hangs in the balance --- and Lin is dangerously short of allies. Yet hopes lies in history. Legend tells of seven mythic swords, forged in centuries past. If Lin can find them before her enemies do, she may yet be able to turn the tide. If she fails, the Sukai dynasty --- and the entire empire --- will fall.
Orbit | 9780316541541

CHRISTMAS AT CORGI COVE by Annie England Noblin (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Rosie Reynolds had come to lakeside Corgi Cove as a lost, lonely girl abandoned by her own mother, but there she discovered a true place to call home. She loves her Corgis, Bonnie and Clyde; loves the lakeside life; and loves her aunt and uncle most of all. But when she discovers that their struggling inn is about to be bought out by some big city chain, she hatches a plan: to win a contest naming theirs the best Christmas-themed inn in the USA. However, she didn’t count on Everett St Claire, who doesn't think it will be that difficult to convince one elderly couple to take the money to retire. With the holidays nearing and the deadline looming, Rosie and Everett are about to discover the magic of a Christmas at Corgi Cove.
Avon | 9780063222243

COMPANY OF FOOS by Paul Davidson (Fiction/Satire)
Paperback Original
Cameron Murphy just landed the ultimate dream job. Unfortunately, working at one of the world's largest tech companies is a bit of a nightmare. Now, stuck in the Pacific Northwest with his family in tow, he must sidestep corporate politics, avoid the certifiably insane and develop a product that will change the world of entertainment forever. Easy, right? But with his wife, Jess, struggling to find her own identity in a wasteland of suburban frigidity, and the corporate algorithm out to get him, becoming a true success might require an awful lot of failure.
Foo Publishing | 9798891450431

A HEART FULL OF HEADSTONES: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin (Mystery)
John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. But what drove a good man to cross the line? Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke may well find out. Clarke is tasked with the city’s most explosive case in years: an infamous cop, at the center of decades of misconduct, has gone missing. Finding him will expose not only her superiors, but her mentor, John Rebus. And Rebus himself may not have her own interests at heart, as the repayment of a past debt places him in the crosshairs of both crime lords and his police brethren.
Back Bay Books | 9780316473651

JUDAS 62 by Charles Cumming (Thriller)
1993: Student Lachlan Kite is sent to post-Soviet Russia, a spy in the guise of a language teacher. Embedded in the town of Voronezh, Kite’s mission is to extract a chemical weapons scientist before the man’s groundbreaking research falls into the wrong hands and shuttle him across the border to freedom in Ukraine. But Kite’s mission soon goes wrong, and he is left stranded in a hostile city with a former KGB officer on his trail. 2020: Thirty years after that dangerous mission, Kite discovers that its outcome put his name on the notorious “JUDAS” list --- a record of enemies of Russia who have been targeted for assassination. Kite’s fight for survival takes him to Dubai, where he enters into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the Russian secret state.
Mysterious Press | 9781613164686

THE KINGDOMS OF SAVANNAH by George Dawes Green (Literary Thriller/Mystery)
It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep’s, one of the town’s favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be “disappeared.” An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths --- truths that will rock Savannah’s power structure to its core.
Celadon Books | 9781250888792

A LONESOME BLOOD-RED SUN: A Bone Detective Novel by David Putnam (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Dave Beckett, a homicide detective who doesn't color within the lines, is regulated to the lowest job in the division and is known by his peers as The Bone Dick. He handles all "bag of bone" cases found in San Bernardino County's 20,000 square miles, at present count 256 pending unsolved. It's a boring, mundane job...until it isn't. In A LONESOME BLOOD-RED SUN, Beckett is called to a house far out in the desert where a dog has brought a bone to the back door. Beckett investigates and discovers that the victim, two years dead, is someone he knows. With his usual verve and colorful methods, Beckett tracks the killer. The trail leads through a warren of dead ends until he discovers a most unlikely suspect hiding in plain sight.
Level Best Books | 9781685122935

THE MAGIC KINGDOM by Russell Banks (Fiction)
Property speculator Harley Mann begins recording his life story onto a reel-to-reel machine, reflecting on his youth in the early 20th century. He recounts that after his father’s sudden death, his family migrated down to Florida to join a Shaker colony. Led by Elder John, a generous man with a mysterious past, the colony devoted itself to labor, faith and charity, rejecting all temptations that lay beyond the property. Though this way of life initially saved Harley and his family from complete ruin, when Harley began falling in love with Sadie Pratt, a consumptive patient living on the grounds, his loyalty to the Shakers and their conservative worldview grew strained and, ultimately, broke. As Harley dictates his story across more than half a century, the truth about Sadie, Elder John and the Shakers comes to light.
Vintage | 9780593468616

NIGHTS OF PLAGUE written by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Robert Finn (Historical Fiction)
It is April 1900 on the imaginary island of Mingheria --- a state of the Ottoman Empire --- located between Crete and Cyprus. Half the population is Muslim, the other half are Orthodox Greeks, and tension is high between the two. When a plague arrives, the island revolts. To stop the epidemic, an accomplished quarantine expert races to the island. What follows is a shocking murder. The plague continues its rapid spread and stricter quarantine measures are declared, but the incompetence of the island’s governor, increased hostility between the two religions, and the people’s refusal to respect the bans doom the quarantine to failure. As the death count rises, warships blockade the island to keep the disease from spreading. Now the people of Mingheria are on their own, and they must find a way to defeat the plague themselves.
Vintage | 9781984897619

THE RED WIDOW: The Scandal that Shook Paris and the Woman Behind It All by Sarah Horowitz (True Crime/History)
Paris, 1889: Margeurite Steinheil is a woman with ambition. But having been born into a middle-class family and trapped in a marriage to a failed artist 20 years her senior, she knows her options are limited. Determined to fashion herself into a new woman, Meg orchestrates a scandalous plan with her most powerful resource: her body. She takes elite men as her lovers, charming her way into the good graces of the rich and powerful. A real-life femme fatale, Meg influences government positions and resorts to blackmail --- and maybe even poisoning --- to get her way. Leaving a trail of death and disaster in her wake, she earns the name the "Red Widow" for mysteriously surviving a home invasion that leaves both her husband and mother dead.
Sourcebooks | 9781728280332

SEVEN EMPTY HOUSES written by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Fiction/Short Stories)
The seven houses in these seven stories are strange. A person is missing, or a truth, or memory; some rooms are enticing, some unmoored, others empty. But in Samanta Schweblin's tense, visionary tales, something always creeps back inside: a ghost, a fight, trespassers, a list of things to do before you die, a child's first encounter with darkness or the fallibility of parents. In each story, twists and turns will unnerve and surprise. Schweblin never takes the expected path and instead digs under the skin, revealing surreal truths about our sense of home, of belonging, and of the fragility of our connections with others.
Riverhead Books | 9780525541400

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE TWELVE THEFTS OF CHRISTMAS by Tim Major (Historical Mystery)
Sherlock Holmes’ discovery of a mysterious musical score initiates a devious Christmas challenge set by Irene Adler, with clues that are all variations on the theme of “theft without theft,” such as a statue missing from a museum found hidden in the room it was taken from. In the snowy London lead-up to Christmas, Holmes’ preoccupation with the "Adler Variations" risks him neglecting the case of his new client, Norwegian arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who has received a series of threats in the form of animal carcasses left on his doorstep. Could they really be gifts from a strange spirit that has pursued Nansen since the completion of his expedition to cross Greenland? And might this case somehow be related to Irene Adler’s great game?
Titan Books | 9781803361949

THERE IS ONLY ONE GHOST IN THE WORLD by Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller (Fiction)
Paperback Original
THERE IS ONLY ONE GHOST IN THE WORLD follows the fragmented meditations of a multilayered voice, an intimate witness to our times that delicately and bluntly reveals the best and the worst in all of us. It is a kaleidoscopic investigation into the loneliness of modern American life, as well as family relationships, exploring the truths and lies that families tell one another, and why, with empathy, sorrow and humility. We travel from the oil-slicked beaches of California and the alleys of New Orleans to the steps of the Capitol.
Fiction Collective 2 | 9781573662031

THE THREE LIVES OF ALIX ST. PIERRE by Natasha Lester (Historical Fiction)
Alix St. Pierre grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamour but never truly felt part of that world. In 1943, with WWII raging, she lands a publicity job to recruit women into the workforce. Her skills catch the attention of the U.S. government, and she finds herself with an even bigger assignment: sent to Switzerland as a spy. Soon Alix is on the precipice of something very big. But how far can she trust her German informant? After an Allied victory that didn’t come nearly soon enough, Alix moves to Paris, ready to immerse herself in a new position as director of publicity for the yet-to-be-launched House of Dior. But when a figure from the war reappears and threatens to destroy her future, Alix realizes that only she can right the wrongs of the past…and finally find justice.
Forever | 9781538706923

WHAT YOU DO TO ME by Rochelle B. Weinstein (Romance)
Paperback Original
Journalist Cecilia James is a sucker for a love song. So when she stumbles across a clue to the identity of the muse for one of rock’s greatest, she devotes herself to uncovering the truth, even as her own relationship is falling apart. While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock star Eddie Vee once sang with his soul, dedicating love songs to Sara Friedman, his inspiration and first love. Now, Eddie takes refuge in anonymity, closed off to the past. Sara, too, has distanced herself from their love, moving thousands of miles away to live the life she once railed against. As Eddie and Sara tentatively open up to Cecilia about broken dreams, she struggles to give them a happy ending.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662508271

On Sale the Week of October 23rd in Hardcover

October 24th

AMERICA FANTASTICA by Tim O’Brien (Fiction/Satire)
Boyd Halverson --- star journalist turned notorious online disinformation troll turned JCPenney manager --- robs a bank and takes the teller, Angie Bing, as a hostage and for a ride. Haunted by his past and weary of his present, Boyd has one goal before the authorities catch up with him: settle a score with the man who destroyed his life. By Monday, Boyd and Angie reach Mexico; by winter, they are in a lakefront mansion in Minnesota. On their trail are hitmen, jealous lovers, ex-cons, an heiress, a billionaire shipping tycoon, a three-tour veteran of Iraq, and the ghosts of Boyd’s past. Everyone, it seems, except the police.
Mariner Books | 9780063318502

THE CHRISTMAS APPEAL by Janice Hallett (Mystery)
The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of “Jack and the Beanstalk” to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes. Of course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who possibly could have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production --- for good.
Atria Books | 9781668035887

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS by Lisa Unger (Mystery/Thriller)
Madeline Martin is the young owner of a thriving business, The Next Chapter Bookshop. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems intent on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She’s the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend, Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline’s. Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing, most recently a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all? Or was there someone else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites?
Mysterious Press | 9781613164518

THE COMFORT OF CROWS: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Memoir/Essays)
In THE COMFORT OF CROWS, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: 52 chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons --- from a crow spied on New Year’s Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring --- what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer. Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life.
Spiegel & Grau | 9781954118461

EVERYTHING IS NOT ENOUGH by Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström (Fiction)
Powerful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi has finally found the man she needs, but Tobias Wikström thinks she's the most selfish woman he has ever met for asking him to give up his life in Sweden and move to the US for her own comfort. Former model-turned-flight attendant Brittany-Rae von Lundin gave up her career and came with nothing into Jonny’s kingdom. Having had a child with him, her greatest fear for Maya includes being cut off from the resources to which she has become accustomed. After fleeing her home through a client to seek a new life in Sweden, Yasmiin finds love in the arms of Yagiz Çelik. But someone from her past forces her to become a caretaker before she’s ready. EVERYTHING IS NOT ENOUGH follows the loosely intertwined and messy lives of Kemi, Brittany and Yasmiin as they interrogate themes of place, prejudice and patriarchy in Europe.
William Morrow | 9780063316973

GEORGE HARRISON: The Reluctant Beatle by Philip Norman (Music/Biography)
Despite being hailed as one of the best guitarists of his era, George Harrison, particularly in his early decades, battled feelings of inferiority. He was often the butt of jokes from his bandmates owing to his lower-class background and, typically, was allowed to contribute only one or two songs per Beatles album out of the dozens he wrote. Now, acclaimed Beatles biographer Philip Norman examines Harrison through the lens of his numerous self-contradictions. This rich biography captures him at his most multifaceted: devoted friend, loyal son, master guitar player, brilliant songwriter, cocaine addict, serial philanderer, global philanthropist, student of Indian mysticism, self-deprecating comedian, and, ultimately, iconic artist and man beloved by millions.
Scribner | 9781982195861

HERCULE POIROT'S SILENT NIGHT: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Historical Mystery)
Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are looking forward to Christmas when they are called upon to investigate the murder of a man in a Norfolk hospital ward. Cynthia Catchpool, Edward’s mother, insists that Poirot stay with her in a crumbling mansion by the coast so they all can be together for the festive period while he solves the case. The local constabulary’s investigation failed to uncover how someone could have entered a hospital room and killed him under the noses of the staff. Cynthia’s friend, Arnold, is soon to be admitted to that same hospital, and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why. Meanwhile, an utterly ruthless individual has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot.
William Morrow | 9780062991638

I MUST BE DREAMING by Roz Chast (Graphic Memoir)
Ancient Greeks, modern seers, Freud, Jung, neurologists, poets, artists, shamans. Humanity has never ceased trying to decipher one of the strangest unexplained phenomena we all experience: dreaming. Now, in her new book, Roz Chast illustrates her own dream world, a place that is sometimes creepy but always hilarious, accompanied by an illustrated tour through “Dream-Theory Land” guided by insights from poets, philosophers and psychoanalysts alike. Illuminating, surprising, funny and often profound, I MUST BE DREAMING explores Chast's newest subject of fascination --- and promises to make it yours, too.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781620403228

IF YOU WOULD HAVE TOLD ME: A Memoir by John Stamos (Memoir)
If you would have told a young John Stamos flipping burgers at his dad’s fast-food joint that one day he’d be a household name and that, at the height of his success, he’d be living alone, divorced, with no kids, high on a cocktail of forgetting, he might’ve asked, “You want fries with that?” John burst onto the scene in “General Hospital,” propelling him into the teen idol stratosphere, a place that’s often a point of no return. But he beat the odds and over the past four decades has proved himself to be one of his generation’s most successful and beloved actors. Whether showing off his comedic chops on “Full House” or his dramatic skills on “ER,” pushing the boundaries on Broadway or living out his youthful dreams as an honorary Beach Boy, John has surprised everyone, most of all himself.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250890979

JANE AND THE FINAL MYSTERY: Being a Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie Barron (Historical Mystery)
March 1817: As winter turns to spring, Jane Austen’s health is in slow decline and threatens to cease progress on her latest manuscript. But when her nephew, Edward, brings chilling news of a death at his former school, Winchester College, not even her debilitating ailment can keep Jane from seeking out the truth. Arthur Prendergast, a senior pupil at the prestigious all-boys’ boarding school, has been found dead in a culvert near the schoolgrounds --- and in the pocket of his drenched waistcoat is an incriminating note penned by the young William Heathcote, the son of Jane’s dear friend, Elizabeth. Winchester College is a world unto itself, with its own language and rites of passage, cruel hazing and dangerous pranks. Can Jane clear William’s name before her illness gets the better of her?
Soho Crime | 9781641295055

THE JOLLIEST BUNCH: Unhinged Holiday Stories by Danny Pellegrino (Humor/Essays)
For many families, the holiday season is --- quite frankly --- unhinged. Whether that involves inappropriately improvised monologues at the children's Christmas pageant, gifts that land someone in the emergency room, or just sitting through the emotional rollercoaster of a Hallmark movie marathon, the holidays are a chaotic and magical time. And nobody knows this better than Danny Pellegrino. For Danny, the holidays are always accompanied by both merriment and mayhem. And like the gay Ghost of Christmas Past, he's here to take you on a nostalgic trip through his most festive memories in a collection of stories that are heartfelt, hilarious and (unfortunately) true.
Sourcebooks | 9781728278216

JULIA by Sandra Newman (Dystopian Fiction)
Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It’s 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell’s 1984. One day, Julia finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell’s now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe.
Mariner Books | 9780063265332

LET US DESCEND by Jesmyn Ward (Historical Fiction)
LET US DESCEND is a reimagining of American slavery --- a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take.
Scribner | 9781982104498

LOST & HOUND by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery)
Fox hunting season is “Sister” Jane Arnold’s favorite time of year. The Jefferson Hunt Club is organizing a fundraising drive to help with the upkeep of their beloved hunting grounds. But the festive season is interrupted by the appearance of a dead body, tied to a chair and placed directly in the path of an early-season hunt. The intentional placement makes it clear that someone is sending a message. Then, one huntsman’s valuable stamp collection is stolen, and they discover the victim was also a stamp collector. Sister suspects a connection, which is confirmed when just one stamp is found taped to the garage door of her friend and treasurer of the hunt club, Ronnie Haslip. Could Ronnie have been involved in either the murder or the theft, or has he been marked as the next victim?
Ballantine Books | 9780593357576

A MEMOIR OF MY FORMER SELF: A Life in Writing by Hilary Mantel (Memoir)
In addition to her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel contributed for years to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. A MEMOIR OF MY FORMER SELF collects the finest of this writing over four decades. Her subjects are wide-ranging, sharply observed and beautifully rendered. She discusses nationalism and her own sense of belonging; our dream life popping into our conscious life; the many themes that feed into her novels --- revolutionary France, psychics, Tudor England; and other novelists, from Jane Austen to V.S. Naipaul. She writes fiercely and heartbreakingly about the battles with her health that she endured as a young woman, and the stifling years she found herself living in Saudi Arabia.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250342225

MURDER IN DRURY LANE: A Lady Worthing Mystery by Vanessa Riley (Historical Mystery)
Pressed into a union of convenience, Lady Abigail Worthing knew better than to expect love. Her marriage to an absent lord does at least provide some comforts, including a box at the Drury Lane theater, owned by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Abigail has always found respite at the theater, away from the ton’s judgmental stares and the risks of her own secret work to help the cause of abolition --- and her fears that someone from her past wants her permanently silenced. But on one particular June evening everything collides, and the performance takes an unwelcome turn. Abigail soon discovers a tangled drama that rivals anything brought to the stage, involving gambling debts, a beautiful actress with a parade of suitors, and the very future of the Drury Lane theater.
Kensington | 9781496738677

NIGHT SIDE OF THE RIVER: Ghost Stories by Jeanette Winterson (Supernatural Fiction/Short Stories)
In this delightfully chilling collection, the iconic Jeanette Winterson turns her fearless gaze to the realm of ghosts, interspersing her own encounters with the supernatural alongside hair-raising fictions. Lifting the veil between the living and the dead, Winterson spirits us away to a haunted estate that ensnares a nomadic young couple in its own dark past, a staged immersive ghost tour gone awry, a West Village séance that threatens the bounds between AI and reality, and a vacation home in the metaverse where a widow visits an improved version of her deceased husband. Gloriously gothic and unnervingly contemporary, Winterson examines grief, revenge, and the myriad ways in which technology can disrupt the boundary between life and death.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802161512

THE SECRET LIFE OF JOHN LE CARRÉ by Adam Sisman (Biography)
Secrecy came naturally to John le Carré, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Adam Sisman's definitive biography, published in 2015, provided a revealing portrait of this fascinating man. Yet some aspects of his subject remained hidden. Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over five decades. To these relationships, he brought much of the tradecraft that he had learned as a spy. In trying to manage his biography, the novelist engaged in a succession of skirmishes with his biographer. While he could control what Sisman wrote about him in his lifetime, he accepted that the truth would eventually become known. Following his death in 2020, what had been withheld can now be revealed.
Harper | 9780063341043

THE SECRET: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Thriller)
1992. All across the United States, respectable, upstanding citizens are showing up dead. These deaths could be accidents, and they don’t appear to be connected --- until a fatal fall from a high-floor window attracts some unexpected attention. That attention comes from the Secretary of Defense. All of a sudden, he wants an interagency task force to investigate. And he wants Jack Reacher as the army’s representative. If Reacher gets a result, great. If not, he’s a convenient fall guy. But office politics isn’t Reacher’s thing. Three questions quickly emerge: Who’s with him, who’s against him, and will the justice he dispenses be the official kind...or his own kind?
Delacorte Press | 9781984818584

SISTERS UNDER THE RISING SUN by Heather Morris (Historical Fiction)
In the midst of World War II, English musician Norah Chambers places her eight-year-old daughter, Sally, on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army. Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese, she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia. After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Norah and Nesta are captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. These sisters in arms fight side by side every day, discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250320551

WEST HEART KILL by Dann McDorman (Mystery)
When private detective Adam McAnnis joins an old college friend for the Bicentennial weekend at the exclusive West Heart club in upstate New York, he finds himself among a set of not-entirely-friendly strangers. Then the body of one of the members is found at the lake’s edge; hours later, a major storm hits. By the time power is restored on Sunday, two more people will be dead.
Knopf | 9780593537572

WHAT WILD WOMEN DO by Karma Brown (Fiction)
Rowan is stuck. Her dream of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter is stalled, and so she and her novelist fiancé, Seth, retreat to an isolated cabin in the Adirondacks to hopefully get out of their creative ruts. There, Rowan finds herself drawn into a mysterious and unsettling story --- that of socialite-turned-feminist-crusader Eddie Callaway, who vanished in these same woods the summer of 1975 and was never heard from again. A handbook found in the abandoned ruins of the Callaway camp gives Rowan glimpses into who Eddie was, and then a fateful discovery offers clues about what might have happened to her. Soon, Rowan finds herself with a story potentially more shocking than Eddie’s notes about sun salutations and pineapple upside-down cake would indicate.
Dutton | 9780593186350

THE WOMAN IN ME by Britney Spears (Memoir)
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice --- her truth --- was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. THE WOMAN IN ME reveals for the first time her incredible journey --- and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’ groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love --- and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
Gallery Books | 9781668009048

On Sale the Week of October 23rd in Paperback

October 24th

ABOUT FACE by William Giraldi (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Val Face is a charismatic self-help guru who captivates multitudes with his uncanny ability to heal adherents using only the power of his words, the mysterious touch of his hands, and the transcendent beauty of his face. Assigned to write a profile of Face during his much-hyped New England tour, 30-year-old impoverished journalist Seger Jovi pens a brutal hatchet job. But Seger, at once curious and incredulous, is soon sucked into the mystic’s vortex of fame, becoming a devotee himself as he contends with the machinations and absurdities of Face’s many protectors. Just as the exalted guru appears to be reaching the apex of his powers, danger threatens from the periphery in the form of an obsessive stalker who wants Face dead.
Liveright | 9781324094128

ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER: A Love Story by Olivie Blake (Romance)
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings. For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability --- until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?
Bramble | 9781250888181

THE CHOICE: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 3 by Nora Roberts (Paranormal Fantasy/Romance)
Breen Siobhan Kelly grew up in the world of Man and was once unaware of her true nature. Now she is in Talamh, trying to heal after a terrible battle and heartbreaking losses. Her grandfather, the dark god Odran, has been defeated in his attempt to rule over Talamh, and over Breen --- for now. With the enemy cast out and the portal sealed, this is a time to rest and to prepare. Breen spreads her wings and realizes a power she’s never experienced before. Keegan, who has trained her as a warrior and whom she has grown to love, is at her side when the enemy’s witches --- traitorous and power-mad --- appear to her in her sleep, practicing black magick, sacrificing the innocent, and plotting a brutal destruction for Breen.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250771803

COLLATERAL DAMAGE: An Ali Reynolds Mystery by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
After spending 20 years behind bars, Frank Muñoz, a disgraced former cop, is out on parole and focused on just one thing: revenge. For Ali Reynolds, the first Christmas without her father is riddled with grief and uncertainty. And with her husband and founding partner of High Noon Enterprises, B. Simpson, preoccupied by an upcoming New Year’s trip to London, she is ready for a break. But when Stu Ramey barges into her home with grave news about a suspicious accident on the highway to Phoenix involving B.’s car, things reach a breaking point. At the hospital, a groggy, post-op B. insists that Ali take his place at a ransomware conference in London as troubles brimming around High Noon come to light. Who would go to such lengths to cut the tech company from the picture?
Pocket Books | 9781982189167

DANGEROUS WOMEN: A Secret Lives Mystery by Mark de Castrique (Political Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
In a case deciding the future of clean energy, everything hinges on how the chief justice of the Supreme Court will lean. DANGEROUS WOMEN stirs up the perfect cocktail of ingenious spy-craft and the political intrigue of Thomas Perry's THE OLD MAN brightened with the charming, uncanny energy of KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE. This urgent, cleverly plotted high-stakes thriller is set in motion by a botched attack on two law clerks that leaves one dead and the other in a coma. The ensuing cover-up leaves a string of bodies and too many players at cross-purposes. It also leaves Chief Justice Clarissa Baxter with a target on her back.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728258331

DARTMOUTH PARK by Rupert Thomson (Fiction)
Paperback Original
It’s February 2019. Philip Notman, an acclaimed historian with a German wife and a troubled 19-year-old son, is on his way back from a conference in Norway when he has an unexpected and disturbing experience that completely alters his view of the life that he has been living and the world that surrounds him. Believing that Inés, an attractive Spanish sociologist whom he met at the conference, can shed light on what he is feeling, he travels to Cádiz to see her. But his journey doesn’t end there. Is he thinking of leaving his wife, whom he still loves, or is he trying to change a reality that he appears to find unbearable? Is he on a quest for a simpler and more authentic existence, or is he utterly self-deluded? And if he is in denial about what he is doing, how far will he go to avoid facing the truth?
Other Press | 9781635421675

DUPLICITY: A Brick Kavanagh Mystery by Shawn Wilson (Mystery)
After the trauma of his last case, and after three months spent recovering in Ireland, life is looking up for newly retired homicide detective Brian (Brick) Kavanagh. Back home in Washington, D.C., a new job shows promise when he’s asked to train criminology students in cold case techniques. Then he’s off to a whirlwind weekend in Chicago with Nora, an Aer Lingus flight attendant he’d met in Ireland. There he receives shocking news that his former partner’s wife and twin infants have been kidnapped. Brick rushes to D.C. to support Ron, the man who’s always had his back. But as days pass, Brick questions how well he really knows this man.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608095810

FATTY FATTY BOOM BOOM: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry (Memoir)
Rabia Chaudry was raised with a lot of love. And that love looked like food. Delicious Pakistani dishes --- fresh roti, chaat, pakoras and shorba --- and also Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and an abundance of American processed foods, as her family discovered its adopted country through its (fast) food. In FATTY FATTY BOOM BOOM, Chaudry chronicles the dozens of times she tried and failed to achieve what she was told was her ideal weight. The truth is, she always loved food too much to hold a grudge against it. This memoir is at once an ode to Pakistani cuisine, including Chaudry’s favorite recipes; a love letter to her Muslim family, both here and in Lahore; and a courageously honest portrait of a woman making peace with a body that gets the job done but refuses to meet the expectations of others.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755380

THE HOUSE IN THE ORCHARD by Elizabeth Brooks (Gothic Thriller)
When a World War II widow inherits a dilapidated English estate, she uncovers a diary written by an adolescent girl named Maude Gower. Looking for answers, she begins reading, only to unravel more questions about the mysterious past and many secrets hidden deep within the walls of Orchard House. In 1876, orphaned Maude is forced to leave London, and her adored brother, Frank, to live with a stranger. Everyone tells her not to trust Miss Greenaway, the enigmatic owner of Orchard House, but Maude can’t help warming to her new guardian. She finds herself discovering who she is for the first time and learning to love her new home. But when Frank comes for an unexpected visit, the delicate balance of Maude’s life is thrown into disarray.
Tin House Books | 9781959030140

IRIS KELLY DOESN’T DATE by Ashley Herring Blake (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Everyone wants Iris Kelly to settle down, but she holds firmly to her no dating rule. There’s only one problem: Iris is a romance author facing an imminent deadline for her second book, and she’s completely out of ideas. Perfectly happy to ignore her problems, Iris goes to a bar and meets a sexy stranger, Stefania. A night of dancing and making out turns into the worst one-night stand Iris has ever had. To get her mind off everything, Iris tries out for the lead role in a local play, a queer retelling of “Much Ado About Nothing,” but comes face-to-face with Stefania, whose real name turns out to be Stevie. Desperate to save face in front of her friends, Stevie asks Iris to play along as her girlfriend. As the two women play the part of a happy couple, lines start to blur, and they’re left wondering who will make the real first move.
Berkley | 9780593550571

LADYPARTS: A Memoir by Deborah Copaken (Memoir)
Twenty years after her iconic memoir SHUTTERBABE, Deborah Copaken is at her darkly comedic nadir: battered, broke, divorcing, dissected and dying --- literally --- on sexism’s battlefield as she scoops up what she believes to be her internal organs into a glass container before heading off to the hospital…in an UberPool. LADYPARTS is her irreverent inventory of both the female body and the body politic of womanhood in America, the story of one woman brought to her knees by the 1-2-12 punch of divorce, solo motherhood, healthcare Frogger, unaffordable childcare, shady landlords, her father’s death, college tuitions, sexual harassment, corporate indifference, ageism, sexism and plain old bad luck.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9781984855497

LAWS OF ANNIHILATION: A Martyr Maker Novel by Eriq La Salle (Thriller)
Paperback Original
It's another blistering summer in New York City, and a sweltering heat wave stifles the area. Hostility between the Hasidic and Black communities has been steadily increasing since a tragic incident left a Black teenager dead. When two rabbis are killed in a gruesome attack on their synagogue, it has all the signs of retaliation. The entire city is on edge. Through it all, Agent Janet Maclin's dreams of becoming the FBI's first female director come crashing down when she receives some devastating news. In spite of it all, she's determined to help NYPD detectives Quincy Cavanaugh and Phee Freeman find the rabbis' killer as more hate crimes put the city on the brink of all-out war. As the body count climbs with the temperature and the tensions, time is running out for Maclin in more ways than one.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728261065

MARMEE: A Novel of Little Women by Sarah Miller (Historical Fiction)
In 1861, war is raging in the South, but in Concord, Massachusetts, Margaret March has her own battles to fight. With her husband serving as an army chaplain, the comfort and security of Margaret’s four daughters --- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy --- now rest on her shoulders alone. Yet even with all that weighs upon her, Margaret longs to do more, so she fills her days with humdrum charity work. All of that is interrupted when she receives a telegram from the War Department, summoning her to her husband’s bedside in Washington, D.C. While she is away, Beth falls dangerously ill, forcing Margaret to confront the possibility that the price of her own generosity toward others may be her daughter’s life.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063041882

MURDER AT BLACK OAKS: A Robin Lockwood Novel by Phillip Margolin (Legal Thriller)
Defense Attorney Robin Lockwood is summoned by retired District Attorney Francis Melville to meet with him at Black Oaks, the manor he owns up in the Oregon mountains. Originally built in 1628 in England, there's a murderous legend and curse attached to the mansion. Melville wants Lockwood's help in righting a wrongful conviction from his days as a DA. Successful in their efforts, Melville invites Lockwood up to Black Oaks for a celebration. She finds herself among an odd group of invitees --- including the bitter, newly released Jose Alvarez. When Melville is found murdered, with a knife connected to the original curse, Lockwood finds herself faced with a conundrum: Who is the murderer among them, and how can she stop that person before there's another victim?
Minotaur Books | 9781250896414

ORGAN MEATS by K-Ming Chang (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Best friends Anita and Rainie find refuge by an old sycamore tree with its neighboring lot of stray dogs who have a mysterious ability to communicate with humans. The girls learn that they are preceded by generations of dog-headed women and woman-headed dogs whose bloodlines bind them together. Anita convinces Rainie to become a dog with her, tying a collar of red string around each of their necks to preserve their kinship forever. But when the two girls are separated, Anita sinks into a dreamworld that only Rainie knows how to rescue her from. As Anita’s body begins to rot, it is up to Rainie to rebuild Anita’s body and keep her friend from being lost forever.
One World | 9780593447345

PEOPLE PERSON by Candice Carty-Williams (Fiction)
Dimple Pennington knows of her half-siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. She’s 30, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half-siblings crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781501196058

THE REVOLUTIONARY: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff (Biography)
Thomas Jefferson asserted that if there was any leader of the Revolution, “Samuel Adams was the man.” John Adams thought his cousin was “the most sagacious politician” of all. With high-minded ideals and bare-knuckle tactics, Adams led what could be called the greatest campaign of civil resistance in American history. Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Stacy Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd, eloquent and intensely disciplined man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution.
Back Bay Books | 9780316441094

THE SHARDS by Bret Easton Ellis (Psychological/Literary Thriller)
Seventeen-year-old Bret is a senior at the exclusive Buckley prep school when a new student arrives with a mysterious past. Robert Mallory is shielding a secret from Bret and his friends even as he becomes a part of their tightly knit circle. Bret’s obsession with Mallory is equaled only by his increasingly unsettling preoccupation with the Trawler, a serial killer on the loose who seems to be drawing ever closer to Bret and his friends. The coincidences are uncanny, but they are also filtered through the imagination of a teenager whose gifts for constructing narrative from the filaments of his own life are about to make him one of the most explosive literary sensations of his generation. Can he trust his friends --- or his own mind --- to make sense of the danger they appear to be in?
Vintage | 9780593469163

SIGNAL FIRES by Dani Shapiro (Fiction)
An ancient majestic oak stands beneath the stars on Division Street. And under the tree sits Ben Wilf, a retired doctor, and 10-year-old Waldo Shenkman, a brilliant, lonely boy who is pointing out his favorite constellations. Waldo doesn’t realize it, but he and Ben have met before. And they will again, and again. Across time and space, and shared destiny. Division Street is full of secrets. An impulsive lie begets a secret --- one that will forever haunt the Wilf family. And the Shenkmans, who move into the neighborhood many years later, bring secrets of their own. Spanning 50 kaleidoscopic years, on a street --- and in a galaxy --- where stars collapse and stories collide, these two families become bound in ways they never could have imagined.
Vintage | 9780593467961

SLEEP NO MORE by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
An earthquake and a fire partially destroyed the Lucent Springs Hotel, but Pallas, Talia and Amelia have no memory of their time there. Now close friends, they co-host a podcast where they investigate cold cases and hope to connect with others who may have had a similar experience to theirs. Ambrose Drake is certain he’s a witness to a murder, but without a body, everyone thinks he’s having delusions caused by extreme sleep deprivation. But Ambrose is positive something terrible happened at the Carnelian Sleep Institute the night he was there. Unable to find proof on his own, he approaches Pallas for help, only for her to realize that Ambrose also has a lost night that he can’t remember --- one that may be connected to Pallas.
Berkley | 9780593337844

TOM CLANCY RED WINTER: A Jack Ryan Novel by Marc Cameron (Thriller/Adventure)
1985. A top-secret F117 aircraft crashes into the Nevada desert. The Nighthawk is the most advanced fighting machine in the world, and the Soviets will do anything to get their hands on its secrets. In East Berlin, a mysterious figure contacts the CIA with an incredible offer --- invaluable details of his government’s espionage plans in return for asylum. It’s an offer they can’t pass up...if it’s genuine. But the risks are too great to blindly stumble into a deal. With the East German secret police closing in, someone will have to go behind the Berlin Wall to investigate the potential defector. It’s a job Deputy Director James Greer can only trust to one man --- Jack Ryan. Can Ryan get the right answers before the Cold War turns into a Red Winter?
Berkley | 9780593422779

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 Trade Paperbacks | 9780593449974

THE WIDOWMAKER: A Black Harbor Novel by Hannah Morrissey (Mystery/Thriller)
Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared 20 years ago, the name "Reynolds" has become synonymous with "murder" and "mystery." And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue. This finally could be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson has a chance to prove himself as lead detective. But as Morgan exposes her own dark demons, could her sordid history be the key to unlocking more than one mystery?
Minotaur Books | 9781250905505

WITHOUT A TRACE by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Charles Vincent is trapped in a loveless marriage, and his job is simply a paycheck. But his life changes forever one night when he falls asleep at the wheel and veers off the road. Miraculously, he survives and happens upon a cabin where he meets the kind and beautiful Aude Saint-Martin. They have an instant connection, and as she nurses him back to health, Charles begins to discover the passion he’s been missing for so many years. In the aftermath of the crash, Charles has a startling realization: He doesn’t have to go back. He could simply choose to disappear, to walk away from his old life. But Aude has secrets of her own, and before long their pasts catch up to them, threatening everything they have fought to build.
Dell | 9781984821881

THE WORLD WE MAKE by N. K. Jemisin (Urban Fantasy)
Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading --- and destroying the entire universe in the process --- the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.
Orbit | 9780316509909

THE YEAR’S BEST DARK FANTASY & HORROR: Volume 4 edited by Paula Guran (Dark Fantasy/Horror Anthology)
Paperback Original
From paranormal plots to stories of the supernatural, tales of the unfamiliar have always fascinated us humans. To keep the tradition alive, fantasy aficionado Paula Guran has gathered the most delightfully disturbing work from some of today’s finest writers of the fantastique. No two mysterious shadows are alike, and the same can be said for the books in this series. Volume 4 contains more than 300 pages of mystical fiction. Reader beware and indulge if you dare, because these chilling tales are sure to spook and surprise!
Pyr | 9781645060673

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