November 14, 2023

November 14, 2023

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of November 13th and November 20th 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 this year's Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. To get you ready for the holidays, we are bringing you two Holiday Cheer contests this month, each of which will run for just 24 hours. The prize books are THE JOLLIEST BUNCH: Unhinged Holiday Stories by Danny Pellegrino and MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT by Nina Simon.

The contest for THE JOLLIEST BUNCH is now up. If you would like to be one of five winners who will receive a copy of the book, be sure to enter here by TOMORROW, Wednesday, November 15th at noon ET.

Please keep in mind that this month’s “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event will take place on Thursday, November 30th at 8pm ET.

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

Wednesday, November 15th 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 Tess Gerritsen about her latest book, THE SPY COAST, a fresh take on the spy thriller featuring a retired CIA operative in small-town Maine who tackles the ghosts of her past.

Saturday, November 18th at 4pm ET: Book Passage: Book Passage welcomes Charles Cumming, who once again straddles two timelines to create a high-tension thriller in KENNEDY 35, the third entry in his Lachlan Kite series.

Monday, November 20th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Charles Cumming will discuss his new thriller, KENNEDY 35, which finds veteran agent Lachlan Kite reckoning with the fallout from a mission in Senegal carried out early in his career.

This Week's Bonus News: Bookreporter.com's
Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature

On Sale the Week of November 13th in Hardcover

November 14th

ACT LIKE A LADY, THINK LIKE A LORD by Celeste Connally (Historical Mystery)
After losing her beloved fiancé in an accident three years earlier, Lady Petra Forsyth announces in front of London’s loosest lips that she will never marry. A woman of independent means, Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life is gone. Instead, she plans to continue enjoying the best of society without any expectations. But when ballroom gossip suggests that a longtime friend has died of a fit due to her “melancholia” while in the care of a questionable physician, Petra vows to use her status to dig deeper --- uncovering a private asylum where men pay to have their wives and daughters locked away, or worse. Just as Petra has reason to believe her friend is alive, a shocking murder proves that more danger is afoot than she thought.
Minotaur Books | 9781250867551

BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Fiction/Magical Realism)
The regulars at the magical Café Funiculi Funicula are well-acquainted with its famous legend and extraordinary time-travel offer. Many patrons have reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family and visited loved ones. But the journey is not without risks, and there are rules to follow. In the tradition of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, readers once again will be introduced to a new set of visitors: the husband with something important left to say; the woman who couldn't bid her dog farewell; the woman who couldn't answer a proposal; and the daughter who drove her father away.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335009111

DAY by Michael Cunningham (Fiction)
April 5, 2019: In a cozy brownstone in Brooklyn, the veneer of domestic bliss is beginning to crack. Dan and his wife, Isabel, are slowly drifting apart --- and both, it seems, are a little bit in love with Isabel’s younger brother, Robbie. Ten-year-old Nathan is taking his first uncertain steps toward independence, while his sister, five-year-old Violet, does her best not to notice the growing rift between her parents. April 5, 2020: As the world goes into lockdown, the cozy brownstone is starting to feel more like a prison. Violet is terrified of leaving the windows open. Isabel and Dan communicate mostly in veiled sleights and frustrated sighs. And Robbie is stranded in Iceland. April 5, 2021: Emerging from the worst of the crisis, the family reckons with a new, very different reality.
Random House | 9780399591341

THE EDGE: A 6:20 Man Thriller by David Baldacci (Thriller)
When CIA operative Jenny Silkwell is murdered in rural Maine, government officials have immediate concerns over national security. Her laptop and phone were full of state secrets that, in the wrong hands, endanger the lives of countless operatives. Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine spent his time in the military preparing to take on any scenario, so his analytical mind makes him particularly well-suited for complex, high-stakes tasks. Taking down the world’s largest financial conspiracy proved his value, and in comparison, this case looks straightforward. Except small towns hold secrets, and Devine finds himself an outsider again. As Devine gets to know the residents of Putnam, Maine, answers seem to appear and then transform into more questions.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538719916

THE GENERAL AND JULIA by Jon Clinch (Historical Fiction)
Barely able to walk and rendered mute by the cancer metastasizing in his throat, Ulysses S. Grant is scratching out words, hour after hour, day after day. Desperate to complete his memoirs before his death so his family might have some financial security and he some redemption, Grant journeys back in time. He had once been the savior of the Union, the general to whom Lee surrendered at Appomattox, a twice-elected president who fought for the civil rights of Black Americans and against the rising Ku Klux Klan, a plain farmer-turned-business magnate who lost everything to a Wall Street swindler, a devoted husband to his wife Julia, and a loving father to four children. In THE GENERAL AND JULIA, Grant rises from the page in all of his contradictions and foibles, his failures and triumphs.
Atria Books | 9781668009789

THE HELSINKI AFFAIR by Anna Pitoniak (Thriller)
Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA officer following in the footsteps of her father, who was a spy during the Cold War. One hot summer day, a Russian defector warns of the imminent assassination of a US senator. Though Amanda takes the warning seriously, her superiors don’t. Twenty-four hours later, the senator is dead. And the assassination is just the beginning. Corporate blackmail, covert manipulation, corrupt oligarchs: the Kremlin has found a dangerous new way to wage war. Teaming up with Kath Frost, a fearless older woman and legendary spy, Amanda races to unravel the international conspiracy. But as she gets closer and closer to the truth, a central question haunts her: Why was her father’s name written down in the senator’s notes? What does Charlie Cole really know about the Kremlin plot?
Simon & Schuster | 9781668014745

THE LITTLE LIAR by Mitch Albom (Historical Fiction)
Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis never told a lie. When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading to “new homes” where they are promised jobs and safety. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. But when the final train is at the station, Nico sees his family being loaded into a large boxcar crowded with other neighbors. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that he helped send the people he loved --- and all the others --- to their doom at Auschwitz. Nico never tells the truth again.
Harper | 9780062406651

THE LOST CAUSE by Cory Doctorow (Science Fiction)
It’s 30 years from now. We’re making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry old people who can’t let go? For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth.
Tor Books | 9781250865939

THE NEW NATURALS by Gabriel Bump (Fiction)
An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western Massachusetts doesn't look like much. But to Rio, a young Black woman bereft after the loss of her newborn child, this hill becomes more than a safe haven --- it becomes a place to start over. She convinces her husband to help her construct a society underground, somewhere safe, somewhere everyone can feel loved, wanted and accepted, where the children learn actual history, where everyone has an equal shot. She locates a Benefactor, and soon their utopia begins to take shape. But no matter how much these people all yearn for meaning and a sanctuary from the existential dread of life above the surface, what happens if this new society can't actually work? What then?
Algonquin Books | 9781616208806

ODYSSEY'S END: A Rick Cahill Novel by Matt Coyle (Hard-boiled Mystery/Thriller)
San Diego private investigator Rick Cahill’s wife, Leah, has fled with their daughter, Krista, to her parents’ home in Santa Barbara. She fears Rick’s violent outbursts brought on by his potentially fatal brain disorder, CTE. Rick desperately wants to reunite his family and help provide for Krista’s future --- one he fears he won’t be alive to see. A jumpstart toward that future appears in the form of Peter Stone, Rick’s longtime enemy. Stone offers Rick $50,000 to find a woman he claims can save his life with a kidney transplant. Rick can’t pass up the chance to buttress Krista’s future. When what seems like a simple missing person case spirals out of control into cryptocurrency machinations, dead bodies and an outgunned faceoff, Rick is forced to battle evil from his past.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094813

PAST LYING: A Karen Pirie Novel by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
It’s April 2020, and Edinburgh is in lockdown. It would seem like a strange time for a cold case to go hot --- the streets all but empty, an hour’s outdoor exercise the maximum allowed --- but a mere pandemic doesn’t mean crime takes a holiday. When a source at the National Library contacts DCI Karen Pirie’s team about documents in the archive of a recently deceased crime novelist, it seems it’s game on again. At the center of it, a novel: two crime novelists facing off over a chessboard. But it quickly emerges that their real-life competition is drawing blood. What unspools is a twisted game of betrayal and revenge, and as Karen and her team attempt to disentangle fact from fiction, it becomes clear that their investigation is more complicated than they ever imagined.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802161499

THE PROFESSOR by Lauren Nossett (Mystery/Thriller)
Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His professor, Dr. Verena Sobek, has been taken in for questioning, and there are rumors his death is the result of a bad romance. A former detective turned research assistant, Marlitt Kaplan misses the excitement of her old job, but most of all the friendship of her partner, Teddy. When her mother, a colleague of the accused professor, asks for her help, she finds herself in the impossible position of proving something didn't happen. Without the credentials to interview suspects or access phone records, she will have to get closer to a victim's life than ever before. And she quickly finds herself in his apartment, having dinner with his roommates, even sleeping in his bed. But is she too close to see the truth?
Flatiron Books | 9781250845351

THE PUREST BOND: Understanding the Human–Canine Connection by Jen Golbeck and Stacey Colino (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
Dogs have been considered people’s best friend for thousands of years, but never has the relationship between humans and their canine companions been as vitally important as it is today. With all of the seismic shifts in today’s world, rates of anxiety and depression have been skyrocketing, and people have been turning to their dogs for solace and stability. In the United States alone, dog adoptions doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. As people have brought furry friends into their lives for the first time or seized this opportunity to deepen the connections they already have, they are looking to understand how owning a dog can change their lives. Now, THE PUREST BOND explores the benefits our dogs can have on our physical, emotional, cognitive and social well-being, often without our realizing it.
Atria Books | 9781668007846

SISTER OF STARLIT SEAS by Terry Brooks (Fantasy)
Auris’ adoptive sister, Char, is certain that her headstrong, impulsive behavior, the quality her family sees as her greatest weakness, is actually her greatest strength: the willingness to instantly brave danger and leap to the rescue when anyone she loves is threatened. Char knows she will never grow into the woman she was meant to be under her family’s loving but repressive eye, so a month before she turns 15, she runs away and joins a Human pirate crew in the warm southerly regions of her world. Then, three years into her pirate career, her captain --- the man she is convinced she loves --- is captured by the leaders of the slave trade he has been fighting. When Char leaps in to rescue him, she finds herself thrust into an adventure that will uncover secrets she never suspected about herself.
Del Rey | 9780593129777

SO LATE IN THE DAY: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan (Fiction/Short Stories)
Claire Keegan gifts us three exquisite stories that together forms a brilliant examination of gender dynamics. In "So Late in the Day," Cathal faces a long weekend as his mind agitates over a woman with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently; in "The Long and Painful Death," a writer's arrival at the seaside home of Heinrich Bèoll for a two-week writing residency is disrupted by an academic who imposes his criticisms and opinions; and in "Antarctica," a married woman travels out of town to see what it's like to sleep with another man and ends up in the grip of a possessive stranger. Each story probes the dynamics that corrupt what could be between women and men: a lack of generosity, the weight of expectation, the looming threat of violence.
Grove Press | 9780802160850

THE STAR AND THE STRANGE MOON by Constance Sayers (Historical Fantasy)
1968: Actress Gemma Turner is on the cusp of obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, she believes her luck has changed. But her dream is about to turn into a nightmare. One night, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. She’s been pulled into the film. And the script --- and the monsters within it --- are coming to life. 2007: Gemma Turner’s disappearance is one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries --- one that’s captivated film student Christopher Kent ever since he saw L’Étrange Lune for the first time. The screenings only happen once a decade, and each time there is new, impossible footage of Gemma that shouldn’t exist. Curiosity drives Christopher to unravel the truth. But answers to the film’s mystery may leave him trapped by it forever.
Redhook | 9780316493741

SYSTEM COLLAPSE: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Following the events in NETWORK EFFECT, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope that Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself.
Tordotcom | 9781250826978

UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There by Garrett M. Graff (History)
For as long as we have looked to the skies, the question of whether life on Earth is the only life to exist has been at the core of the human experience, driving scientific debate and discovery, shaping spiritual belief, and prompting existential thought across borders and generations. And yet, the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence has been largely seen as a joke, banished to the realm of fantasy and conspiracy. Now, for the first time, the full story of our national obsession with UFOs --- and the covert, decades-long search by scientists, the United States military, and the CIA for proof of alien life --- is told by bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff in a deeply reported and researched history.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982196776

UHTRED'S FEAST: Inside the World of The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell with Suzanne Pollak (Historical Fiction/Social History)
UHTRED’S FEAST offers rich background on the books of Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series, presenting a fascinating, detailed view of Anglo-Saxon life in all its splendor, danger and beauty. With his narrative flair, Cornwell explores every aspect of this historical period, from the clothes to weapons to food, offering beautifully crafted recipes of early Anglo-Saxon fare, created by renowned UK chef Suzanne Pollak. In addition, he has written three new stories exclusive to this book that reveal the man behind the shield --- Uhtred as a young boy, as Alfred’s advisor, and as prince.
Harper | 9780063219366

A VERY INCONVENIENT SCANDAL by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Fiction)
Frankie Attleboro returns home to Cape Cod with thrilling news. She’s met the love of her life, and they’re getting married with a baby on the way. That’s the moment her widowed father makes his own jaw-dropping announcement. At 60, he’s getting married as well, to Frankie’s best friend, Ariel, who is also pregnant, and due soon. As Frankie and Ariel struggle to adjust to their new relationship, Ariel’s estranged mother, Carlotta, returns after a decade-long absence. She claims to be a changed woman. But is she really? And where has she been all these years? Frankie is suspicious, and as Carlotta’s unpredictable behavior intensifies, Frankie must untangle the threads of the past to protect Ariel’s future --- and her own.
Mira | 9780778369370

On Sale the Week of November 13th in Paperback

November 14th

BLEEDING HEART YARD by Elly Griffiths (Mystery)
When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late ’90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost 20 years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job --- as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory. One day, her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. But then, shockingly, one of her old friends, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. Garfield was an eminent --- and controversial --- MP, and the investigation is high profile. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again. Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies?
Mariner Books | 9780063289291

BLOWBACK by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois (Political Thriller)
US President Keegan Barrett has swept into office on his success as Director of the CIA. Six months into his first term, he devises a clandestine power grab with deadly consequences. Barrett personally orders CIA agents Liam Grey and Noa Himel to execute his plan, but their loyalties are divided. The CIA serves at the pleasure of the president, yet they’ve sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. When the threat comes directly from the Oval Office, that’s where the blowback begins.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538753064

CRUZ written by Nicolás Ferraro, translated by Mallory N. Craig-Kuhn (Thriller)
Tomás Cruz swore he would never be like his father, an abusive cocaine junkie whose gangland exploits are notorious throughout the underbelly of northern Argentina. When Samuel Cruz is sentenced to 13 years in prison, he leaves a laundry list of unfinished cartel business. Seba, Tomás’ revered older brother, has no choice but to abandon his straight life and take over his father’s underworld debt. Now 15 years has passed, Seba has been arrested, and the ruthless cartel boss is holding his wife and daughter as collateral --- just in time for the holidays. Tomás is forced to choose between protecting his family and his soul as he assumes the to-do list where Seba left off, plunging into the shocking depravity of the cartel to track a drug deal gone wrong.
Soho Crime | 9781641295291

END OF THE HOUR: A Therapist's Memoir by Meghan Riordan Jarvis (Memoir)
Paperback Original
Esteemed trauma therapist Meghan Riordan Jarvis knew how to help her patients process grief. For nearly 20 years, Meghan expected that this clinical training would inoculate her against the effects of personal trauma. But when her father died after a year-long battle with cancer, followed by her mother’s unexpected passing while on their family vacation, she came undone. Thrown into a maelstrom of grief, with long-buried childhood tragedy rising to the surface, Meghan knew what she had to do --- check herself into the same trauma facility to which she often sent her clients. In treatment, trading the therapist’s chair for the patient’s couch, Meghan took her first steps toward healing.
Zibby Books | 9781958506202

GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE by Christina Henry (Dark Fantasy/Thriller & Horror)
Paperback Original
Celia wakes up in a house that’s supposed to be hers. There’s a little girl who claims to be her daughter and a man who claims to be her husband, but Celia knows this family --- and this life --- is not hers. Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend trip --- but then her friend’s boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. No one else believes Allie, but she is sure that something about this trip is very, very wrong. Maggie just wants to be home with her daughter, but she’s in a dangerous situation and she doesn’t know who put her there or why. She’ll have to fight with everything she has to survive. Three women. Three stories. Only one way out.
Berkley | 9780593638194

THE GREAT AIR RACE: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviation by John Lancaster (History)
Years before Charles Lindbergh’s flight from New York to Paris electrified the nation, a group of daredevil pilots, most of them veterans of World War I, brought aviation to the masses by competing in the sensational transcontinental air race of 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight, yet despite its significance, it has until now been all but forgotten. In THE GREAT AIR RACE, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America.
Liveright | 9781324094074

HANGING THE DEVIL: A Cape Weathers Mystery by Tim Maleeny (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When a helicopter crashes through the skylight of the Asian Art Museum, an audacious heist turns into a tragedy. The only witness to the crash is 11-year-old Grace, who watches in horror as her uncle is killed and a priceless statue stolen by two men…and a ghost? At least that's how the eerie, smoke-like figure with parchment skin and floating hair appears to Grace. Scared almost to death, she flees into the night and seeks refuge in the back alleys of San Francisco's Chinatown. Grace is found by Sally Mei, the self-appointed guardian of Chinatown. While Sally trains Grace in basic survival skills, her erstwhile partner Cape Weathers, private detective and public nuisance, searches for the mysterious crew behind the robbery before they strike the museum a second time.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728279169

MUSICAL TABLES: Poems by Billy Collins (Poetry)
You can spot a Billy Collins poem immediately. The amiable voice, the light touch, the sudden turn at the end. In his own words, his poems tend to “begin in Kansas and end in Oz.” Now Collins has found a new form for his unique poetic style: the small poem. Here he writes about his trademark themes of nature, animals, poetry, mortality, absurdity and love --- all in a handful of lines. Neither haiku nor limerick, the small poem pushes to an extreme poetry’s famed power to condense emotional and conceptual meaning. The poems in MUSICAL TABLES are inspired by the small poetry of writers as diverse as William Carlos Williams, W.S. Merwin, Kay Ryan and Charles Simic, and written with Collins’ recognizable wit and wisdom.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780399589805

MUSSOLINI’S DAUGHTER: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe by Caroline Moorehead (Biography)
Edda Mussolini was the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s oldest and favorite child. At 19, she was married to Count Galleazzo Ciano, Il Duce’s Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, the most turbulent decade in Italy’s fascist history. In the years preceding World War II, Edda ruled over Italy’s aristocratic families and the cultured and middle classes while selling fascism on the international stage. How a young woman wielded such control is the heart of Caroline Moorehead’s fascinating history. The issues that emerge reveal not only a great deal about the power of fascism, but also the ease with which dictatorship so easily took hold in a country weakened by war and a continent mired in chaos and desperate for peace.
Harper Perennial | 9780062967268

PLAY OF SHADOWS by Barbara Nickless (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
On a stormy Chicago night, renowned semiotician Dr. Evan Wilding and his brother, River, reunite in a mystery. A package addressed to both of them contains a hand-drawn maze, an ancient Cretan coin, and a cryptic greeting: Let the game begin. The opening move is murder. In a downtown alley, a man has been found nearly cleaved in two, a symbol drawn on his forehead and a savage rip in his throat. Given the clues, Evan sees a parallel to a fearsome Greek myth. Which means his friend, Detective Addie Bisset, is on the trail of a legendary flesh-eating monster --- one terrifyingly human and tumbling a panicked city toward chaos. Evan, Addie and River scramble to discover who’s behind the appalling crimes and decipher the baffling motives.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662509988

PLOT TWIST by Erin La Rosa (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Romance author Sophie Lyon’s ironic secret just went viral: she’s never been in love --- and it’s ruining her reputation. With a manuscript deadline looming, Sophie makes an ambitious plan to overcome her writer’s block: reunite with her exes to learn why she’s never fallen in love, and document it all for her millions of new online followers. Luckily, Sophie’s reclusive landlord, Dash Montrose --- a former teen heartthrob --- is willing to help. What he doesn’t mention is that he’s an anonymous online crafter, a hobby that helps him maintain his sobriety. As Sophie and Dash grow closer, they discover a heat between them that rivals Dash’s pottery kiln. But Sophie needs to figure out who she is outside her relationships, and Dash isn’t sure he’s stable enough for the commitment she deserves.
Canary Street Press | 9781335458117

SAM by Allegra Goodman (Fiction)
Sam is seven years old and living in Beverley, Massachusetts. She adores her father, though he isn’t around much, and her mother struggles to make ends meet. Sam doesn’t fit in at school, where the other girls have the right shade of blue jeans and don’t question the rules. All she wants is to climb. Hanging from the highest limbs of the tallest trees, scaling the side of a building, Sam feels free. As a teenager, Sam begins to doubt herself. She yearns to be noticed, even as she wants to disappear. When her climbing coach takes an interest in her, his attention is more complicated than she anticipated. She resents her father’s erratic behavior, but she grieves after he’s gone. And she resists her mother’s attempts to plan for her future, even as that future draws closer.
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593447833

SHOWSTOPPER: A Peter Diamond Investigation by Peter Lovesey (Mystery)
In the six years since the start of the hit British TV show “Swift,” its cast and crew have been plagued by misfortune, beginning with the star actress’s pulling out of the show before it began. By now there have been multiple injuries by fall, fire or drowning; two deaths; and two missing persons cases. The media quickly decides it’s a curse, but who’s to say there isn’t a criminal conspiracy afoot? Now that the filming has moved to Bath, Peter Diamond, Chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad, is on the case. While the investigation into one fatal accident is underway, a cameraman goes missing, challenging even the most credulous to wonder if he might have been the victim of foul play rather than a jinx. How can so many things go wrong on one set in such a short time?
Soho Crime | 9781641295284

STORM RISING: A Hayley Chill Thriller by Chris Hauty (Political Thriller)
Intelligence operative Hayley Chill is pursing the truth about her father’s mysterious fate, which government officials seem determined to hide from her. But when she stumbles upon a ciphered document under the floorboards of her father’s house, it becomes impossible to ignore the questions about his death. Was it suicide, or was it murder, designed to protect a deeper secret? She fears that what she has discovered may be connected to current rumors of a dark conspiracy, one that no one will substantiate. With permission from her handler to probe deeper, Hayley is led into a terrifying subculture of white supremacy within the United States military. As her investigation intensifies, she uncovers an expansive conspiracy to bring about the secession of several states from the country.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668021880

THE TWIST OF A KNIFE by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery)
Reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne that after three books, he’s splitting and their deal is over. Anthony’s new play, a thriller called "Mindgame," is about to open at the Vaudeville Theater in London’s West End. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night. The play is panned by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Margaret Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger, which turns out to belong to Anthony and has his fingerprints all over it. Anthony is arrested by an old enemy, Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw, who is out for revenge. When a second theater critic is found to have died under mysterious circumstances, the net closes in.
Harper Perennial | 9780062938190

On Sale the Week of November 20th in Hardcover

November 20th

ALEX CROSS MUST DIE by James Patterson (Thriller)
“Drop whatever you’re doing, Detective Cross, and head to Reagan Airport,” DC Metro Police dispatch says. “A jet just crashed and exploded on the runway. The chief and the FBI want you and John Sampson there pronto.” Cross and Sampson race to the crash site. The plane didn’t fail --- it was shot down by a stolen Vietnam War–era machine gun. The list of experts who can operate the weapon is short. And time before another lethal strike runs even shorter. Especially for Alex Cross.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316402484

November 21st

THE BALL AT VERSAILLES by Danielle Steel (Historical Fiction)
It’s the summer of 1959, and the Palace of Versailles is hosting an event that will make history. It is an exclusive dusk-to-dawn ball in which a select group of American and French debutantes will be presented to international society and royalty. Four young women, all with something to prove, receive what some see as the invitation of a lifetime: Amelia Alexander, who hopes to eventually attend law school; Felicity Smith, whose family is prominent in the Dallas social scene; Caroline Taylor, the beautiful ingénue and daughter of Hollywood legends; and Samantha Walker, an art history major with an overprotective father. For all these young women, Paris and one transcendent night will change their lives forever.
Delacorte Press | 9780593498347

THE GHOSTS OF BEATRICE BIRD by Louisa Morgan (Historical Fantasy)
Beatrice Bird is haunted by ghosts --- a gift she's had since she was a small child. Unfortunately, it's an ability that has now grown more intense, shifting from flashes and feelings to physical manifestations she can't escape. In a desperate attempt to find relief, Beatrice flees her home, her partner and her psychology practice in San Francisco for a remote island with only nuns and a few cows for company. She doesn’t call home. She sees as few people as she possibly can. Then she meets Anne Iredale, a timid woman who has lost everything that matters to her. For the first time in a long time, Beatrice's gift will be called on to help someone in need. But the ghosts have taken on an even darker edge --- and there is something sinister lurking in the shadows.
Redhook | 9780316628808

INHERITANCE: The Lost Bride Trilogy, Book 1 by Nora Roberts (Paranormal Fantasy/Romance)
Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin he never knew about --- and that her newly discovered uncle, Collin Poole, has left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast, which the will stipulates she must live in it for at least three years. Trey, the young lawyer who greets her at the sprawling clifftop manor, acknowledges that the place is haunted…but just a little. Sonya sees a painting by her father inexplicably hanging in her deceased uncle’s office, and a portrait of a woman named Astrid, whom the lawyer refers to as “the first lost bride.” It’s becoming clear that Sonya has inherited far more than a house. She has inherited a centuries-old curse and a puzzle to be solved if there is any hope of breaking it.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250288325

THE OTHER HALF by Charlotte Vassell (Mystery/Satire)
Rupert's 30th birthday party is a black-tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald's --- catered with cocaine and expensive champagne. The morning after, his girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath, a single stiletto heel jutting from under a bush. Who killed Clemmie? Was it the blithe, sociopathic boyfriend? His impossibly wealthy godmother? The gallery owner with whom Clemmie was having an affair? Or was it the result of something else entirely? All the party-goers have alibis. Naturally. Detective Caius Beauchamp discovers Clemmie's body on his early morning jog. As he searches for the dark truth beneath the luxurious life of these London socialites, a wall of staggering wealth and privilege threatens to shut down his investigation before it's even begun.
Anchor | 9780593685945

THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN EIGHT by Nalini Singh (Mystery/Thriller)
They met when they were teenagers. Now they’re adults, and time has been kind to some and unkind to others --- none more so than to Bea, the one they lost nine long years ago. They’ve gathered to reminisce at Bea’s family’s estate, a once-glorious mansion straight out of a gothic novel. Best friends, old flames, secret enemies and new lovers are all under one roof. But when the weather turns and they’re snowed in at the edge of eternity, there’s nowhere left to hide from their shared history. As the walls close in, the pretense of normality gives way to long-buried grief, bitterness and rage. Underneath it all, there’s the nagging feeling that Bea’s shocking death wasn’t what it was claimed to be. And before the weekend is through, the truth will be unleashed --- no matter the cost.
Berkley | 9780593549766

TOM CLANCY COMMAND AND CONTROL: A Jack Ryan Novel by Marc Cameron (Thriller/Adventure)
For a century, the Panama Canal has served as the path between the seas. Control of this vital waterway is the difference between free trade and chaos in world markets. So when Panamanian President Rafael Botero asks for a show of support against the socialist opposition, his old friend, President Jack Ryan, can’t turn down an invitation to visit the country. But what seems like an ordinary opportunity to preach the values of democracy quickly turns into a nightmare when a full-blown coup d’état erupts. One of the main forces behind the coup is the ruthless criminal organization known as the Camarilla. They’ve had their tentacles deep inside the plot to overthrow the government. All of their hard work has just presented them with an unexpected opportunity they can’t resist --- the chance to kill the President.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593422847

A TRUE ACCOUNT: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself by Katherine Howe (Historical Fiction)
In Boston, as the Golden Age of Piracy comes to a bloody close, Hannah Masury is ready to take her life into her own hands. When a man is hanged for piracy in the town square and whispers of a treasure in the Caribbean spread, Hannah is forced to flee for her life, disguising herself as a cabin boy in the pitiless crew of the notorious pirate Edward "Ned" Low. To earn the freedom to choose a path for herself, Hannah must hunt down the treasure and change the tides. Meanwhile, professor Marian Beresford pieces Hannah’s story together in 1930, seeing her own lack of freedom reflected back at her as she watches Hannah's transformation. At the center of Hannah’s account lies a centuries-old mystery that Marian is determined to solve, just as Hannah may have been determined to take it to her grave.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250304889

On Sale the Week of November 20th in Paperback

November 21st

FIVE YEARS FROM NOW by Paige Toon (Romance)
Paperback Original
Nell and Van meet as children when their parents fall in love. They become best friends and each other’s whole world. Then tragedy strikes, and Van is sent to the other side of the globe. Five years later, they find each other again. But they’re no longer children, and the bond between them smolders into flames. New feelings surprise them both. They are destined, soulmates. Until an untimely discovery tears them apart again. For the next two decades, fate brings Nell and Van together every five years, even as life and circumstance divide them. They will have to make a choice, but it’s bigger than their lives alone. Is it bigger than their love?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593715567

HOLLYWOOD: The Oral History by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson (Performing Arts/History)
From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Gleaned from nearly 3,000 interviews, involving 400 voices from the industry, HOLLYWOOD lets a reader “listen in” on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera (Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloyd) to the biggest behind it (Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele), as well as the lesser known individuals who shaped what was heard and seen on screen. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of Hollywood. It’s the insider’s story.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063056954

IT ENDS AT MIDNIGHT by Harriet Tyce (Psychological Thriller)
Sylvie understands that the crime she and Tess committed decades ago was wrong, and that's why she has buried the secret deep in her past. No one needs to know about the person Sylvie once was, especially since it would mean the end of her relationship and ruin her breakout legal career. But when Tess is diagnosed with cancer, she decides that the time is right to make amends for past wrongs and organizes an extravagant New Year's Eve party as a backdrop for her dramatic confessions. As midnight approaches and the countdown begins, it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution. They want revenge. They want someone at this party to die.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728282107

A QUIET LIFE by Ethan Joella (Fiction)
Chuck Ayers can’t decide if he should make the annual trip to Hilton Head without his late wife, Cat. Ella Burke works two jobs to make ends meet and fill the hours while she waits for news about her missing daughter. Kirsten Bonato put her aspirations for veterinary school aside after her father’s sudden death and finds comfort working at an animal shelter. These three individuals’ stories intersect in surprising and heartwarming ways as each person discovers how to move forward with their lives.
Scribner | 9781982190989

WINTER SOLSTICE: An Essay by Nina MacLaughlin (Essay)
Paperback Original
Winter begins with the shortest day of the year before nightfall. As in her companion volume, SUMMER SOLSTICE, Nina MacLaughlin meditates on both the dark and the light and what this season means in our lives. “Winter tells us,” she says, “more than petaled spring, or hot-grassed summer, or fall with its yellow leaves, that we are mortal. In the frankness of its cold, in the mystery of its deep-blue dark, the place in us that knows of death is tickled, focused, stoked. The angels sing on the doorknobs and others sing from the abyss. The sun has been in retreat since June, and the heat inside glows brighter in proportion to its absence. We make up for the lost light in the spark that burns inside us.”
Black Sparrow Press | 9781574232578

THE WINTHROP AGREEMENT by Alice Sherman Simpson (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Rivkah Milmanovitch arrives at Ellis Island, her husband is not waiting for her as promised. Alone and pregnant, she makes her way to the Lower East Side tenement of an old friend. Lottie Aarons, whose husband went out for a newspaper and never returned, takes Rivkah in, and they work side-by-side in dispiriting sweatshops. Rivkah gives birth to a daughter, Mimi, determined that her child will have a better life in America. Frederick Winthrop, a slum landlord, lives in one of Fifth Avenue‘s sumptuous mansions --- and preys on young girls. When he serendipitously meets 15-year-old Mimi, she is easily seduced, and her life takes an unexpected turn. But as she rises to international fame, she must struggle with the secrets of her past and protect those she loves.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063304086

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