January 30, 2024

January 30, 2024

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 29th and February 5th 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.

Something New! Our Events Newsletter

As many of you know, over the past few years, we have increased the number of virtual events that we are offering to readers. We have a rather huge invite list that has become unwieldy to write via regular email. Thus, we now have an Events Newsletter, which we will send around the first of the month. While we mention our events in this newsletter, if you want to plan a couple of months ahead, sign up here for our new Events Newsletter. It will come from Events@thebookreportnetwork.com, so drop that address in your address book!

This week, we are calling attention to our reader comments for Kristin Hannah's upcoming novel, THE WOMEN. Back in November, we gave 25 readers the chance to win an advance copy and let us know their thoughts on it. We received terrific feedback on the book, which releases on February 6th and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
 
The winners also submitted questions for Kristin, many of which Carol Fitzgerald will be asking her during a LIVE “Bookreporter Talks To” interview on Wednesday, March 6th at 7pm ET. We also are giving them the option of asking their questions on camera. We will share the signup link to this special evening event soon, but we wanted to let you know about it now so you have it on your radar.

Last Wednesday night, we hosted our first “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event of 2024. Our guest was Lisa See, and she talked about her most recent book, LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN, which was a Bets On selection when it released last June. She explained how she came to discover Tan Yunxian, a female physician from 15th-century China, and why she decided to write a novel based on her extraordinary life.
 
Two readers, Debbie and Michelle, appeared on camera to ask Lisa about her interest in ancient Chinese medicine and the role of women in it, as well as how a new book idea comes to her. Michelle learned that Lisa’s mother, Carolyn See, wrote a book called MAKING A LITERARY LIFE and was curious to know if Lisa followed her mother’s writing advice.
 
We also fielded some fabulous questions from the audience that touched on a number of additional topics, including the book’s gorgeous cover and Lisa’s lovely necklaces, which an eagle-eyed reader noticed she wears to all of her events. Plus, Lisa shared a shoe that would have been worn on a bound foot! Our attendees hailed from 37 states and Canada, which we were thrilled to see. Click here to watch the video or here to listen to the podcast.

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, January 31st at 6pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Benjamin Stevenson will talk about his second mystery novel, EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT, following the 2023 publication of the indie darling EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE.

Wednesday, January 31st 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 Jennifer Moorman about her latest enchanting novel, THE MAGIC ALL AROUND.

Saturday, February 3rd at 1pm ET: Book Passage: The hit Netflix movie Nyad is inspiring viewers worldwide. Join Diana Nyad for a virtual chat about her memoir, FIND A WAY: The Inspiring Story of One Woman's Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream.

Tuesday, February 6th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Amy Jo Burns for a live virtual event to discuss MERCURY, January's B&N Book Club pick. She will be in conversation with Shannon DeVito, the Sr. Director of Book Strategy and Customer Experience at B&N, and Miwa Messer, the host and Executive Producer of B&N's “Poured Over” podcast.

Tuesday, February 6th at 7pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood for a live virtual discussion to celebrate the release of her new paranormal romance, BRIDE. She will be in conversation with Xio Axelrod and Nisha J. Tuli.

Tuesday, February 6th at 8pm ET: The Writer's Center: The Writer’s Center welcomes novelists E.A. Aymar (WHEN SHE LEFT) and Lyn Liao Butler (WHAT IS MINE) for a virtual book launch celebrating their new novels, followed by a Q&A about writing and publishing genre fiction.

This Week's Bonus News:
Readers Comment on THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah,
an Upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
Releasing on February 6th

On Sale the Week of January 29th in Hardcover

January 30th

BELONGING by Jill Fordyce (Fiction)
Jenny is 13 when an epic dust storm rolls into her central California town in December 1977. Bedridden after contracting a life-threatening illness in the storm and suffering a shocking loss, Jenny realizes she will never be cared for by the mother who both neglects and terrifies her or the father who allows it. She relies on her cousin, Heather, who has the loving home Jenny longs for; her beloved great-uncle, Gino, the last link between generations; her best friend, Henry, a free spirit with whom she shares an inexplicable bond; and earnest baseball star Billy, who becomes her first love. After a stunning turn of events in both their lives, Jenny and Henry leave for college in LA together in the summer of 1982. When she returns home years later, the life Jenny so carefully created collides with the one she left behind.
Post Hill Press | 9798888451748

THE CITY OF STARDUST by Georgia Summers (Dark Fantasy)
For centuries, the Everlys have seen their best and brightest disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick --- and never forgives a debt. Violet Everly was a child when her mother left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has 10 years to find her mother, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer. Unless she can break the curse first. Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge.
Redhook | 9780316561488

COME AND GET IT by Kiley Reid (Fiction)
It's 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie's starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardized by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks and illicit intrigue. A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption and reckless abandon, COME AND GET IT is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion and bad behavior.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593328200

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ASTRID BRICARD by Natasha Lester (Historical Fiction)
Everyone remembers her daringly short, silver lamé dress. It was an iconic photo capturing an electric moment, where emerging American designer Astrid Bricard is young, uninhibited, and on the cusp of fashion and feminism’s changing landscape. Yet she can't escape the shadow of her mother, Mizza Bricard, infamous "muse" for Christian Dior. Astrid would give anything to take her place among the great houses of couture --- on her own terms. But then Astrid disappeared. Now Astrid's daughter, Blythe, holds what remains of her mother and grandmother's legacies. Of all the Bricard women, she can gather the torn, painfully beautiful fabrics of three generations of heartbreak to create something that will shake the foundations of fashion. But what really happened to Astrid?
Forever | 9781538706954

EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT by Benjamin Stevenson (Mystery)
When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out. The program is a who’s who of crime-writing royalty: the debut writer (me!), the forensic science writer, the blockbuster writer, the legal thriller writer, the literary writer, and the psychological suspense writer. But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime. Of course, we also should know how to commit one. How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?
Mariner Books | 9780063279070

GOOD MATERIAL by Dolly Alderton (Fiction)
Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can't work out why she stopped. Now he is without a home, waiting for his stand-up career to take off, and wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't looking. Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story.
Knopf | 9780593801307

HARD BY A GREAT FOREST by Leo Vardiashvili (Fiction)
Saba is just a child when he flees the fighting in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia with his older brother, Sandro, and father, Irakli, for asylum in England. Two decades later, all three men are struggling to make peace with the past. When Irakli decides to return to Georgia, pulled back by memories of a lost wife and a decaying but still beautiful homeland, Saba and Sandro wait eagerly for news. But within weeks of his arrival, Irakli disappears, and the final message they receive from him causes a mystery to unfold before them: “I left a trail I can’t erase. Do not follow it.” In a journey that will lead him to the very heart of a conflict that has marred generations and fractured his own family, Saba must retrace his father’s footsteps to discover what remains of their homeland and its people.
Riverhead Books | 9780593545034

HELD by Anne Michaels (Historical Fiction)
1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow falls --- a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and reignite as the century unfolds.
Knopf | 9780593536865

HOUSE OF FLAME AND SHADOW: A Crescent City Novel by Sarah J. Maas (Fantasy/Romance)
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust. Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635574104

THE HOUSE OF LAST RESORT by Christopher Golden (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild --- selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. But from the moment they move in, they feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250285898

MRS. QUINN'S RISE TO FAME by Olivia Ford (Fiction)
Nothing could be more out of character, but after 59 years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren --- which Jenny never had --- Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the primetime TV show “Britain Bakes.” But her new-found independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared donuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever. With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret --- a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593656419

ONE HOUR OF FERVOR written by Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison Anderson (Fiction)
Haru, a successful Japanese art dealer, loves beauty, harmony, art, balance, intriguing women, sophisticated conversation and elegance. Months after a brief affair in Japan with a French woman, Maud, he discovers she is pregnant with his child. However, she warns him that if he ever tries to see her or the child, she will kill herself. Quietly devastated at the thought of never knowing his daughter, who will become a dark presence in an otherwise elegantly orchestrated life, Haru decides he will respect Maud’s wishes. His daughter grows to adulthood without ever knowing him. Is it too late to change things?
Europa Editions | 9798889660040

PRIMA FACIE by Suzie Miller (Legal Thriller)
Tessa Ensler has worked her way up to being a top criminal defense barrister against all the odds. Her quick-witted cross-examinations and intelligence in the courtroom see her clocking up win after win --- including securing freedom for men accused of rape and sexual assault. Innocence until proven guilty is, after all, the bedrock of a civilized society. But when Tessa is raped by a coworker, she struggles to find the strength to bring him to justice in the face of the barriers and opposition within that same system. Determined to have her day in court, Tessa is forced to confront the stark reality that the law was not written for victims and that she is the one on trial. She fights on, even as her evidence is manipulated to make her look like a liar, even while she is retraumatized on the stand.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250292209

WOLVES OF WINTER by Dan Jones (Historical Thriller)
1347. Bruised and bloodied by an epic battle at Crécy, six soldiers known as the Essex Dogs pick through the wreckage of the fighting --- and their own lives. Now a new siege is beginning, and the Dogs are sent to attack the soaring walls of Calais. King Edward has vowed no Englishman will leave France until this city falls. To get home, they must survive a merciless winter in a lawless camp deadlier than any battlefield. Obsessed with tracking down the vanished Captain, Loveday struggles to control his own men. Romford is haunted by the reappearance of a horrific figure from his past. And Scotsman is spiraling into a pit of drink, violence and self-pity. The Dogs are being torn apart, but this war is far from over. It won't be long before they lose more of their own.
Viking | 9780593653791

February 1st

THE BAD WEATHER FRIEND by Dean Koontz (Thriller/Adventure)
Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée and his favorite chair. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why. Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. All will be well in time. Stranger yet is what’s inside the crate. He’s a seven-foot-tall self-described “bad weather friend” named Spike whose mission is to help people who are just too good for this world. He’ll find Benny’s enemies and deal with them. This might be satisfying if Spike wasn’t such a menacing presence with terrifying techniques of intimidation. In the company of Spike and a fascinated young waitress-cum-PI-in-training named Harper, Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662500497

LAST NIGHT by Luanne Rice (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
A fierce blizzard is burying the eastern seaboard, but on the icy Rhode Island shore, renowned artist Maddie Morrison finds warm sanctuary from a contentious divorce at the legendary Ocean House. Hours later, her body is found buried under a blanket of snow, and her little daughter, CeCe, has disappeared without a trace. For Detective Conor Reid; his brother, Tom, a coast guard commander; and Maddie’s grieving sister, Hadley, the posh hotel becomes ground zero for an investigation. Trapped by the blizzard, they must hunker down and determine who in the young mother’s life could have possibly wanted her dead. There are stories of a twisted romantic past. Of old jealousies and resentments that still cut to the bone. And a history of greed, rage and revenge that created the perfect storm for murder.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542030199

On Sale the Week of January 29th in Paperback

January 30th

BROTHERLESS NIGHT by V. V. Ganeshananthan (Fiction)
Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence. Desperate to act, Sashi accepts K’s invitation to work as a medic at a field hospital for the militant Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. But after the Tigers murder one of her teachers and Indian peacekeepers arrive only to commit further atrocities, Sashi begins to question where she stands. When one of her medical school professors invites her to join a secret project documenting human rights violations, she embarks on a dangerous path that will change her forever.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812978278

CLEOPATRA AND FRANKENSTEIN by Coco Mellors (Fiction)
Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank's life is full of all the excesses Cleo's lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639730704

CLOVER HENDRY’S DAY OFF by Beth Morrey (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Clover Hendry hasn’t said “No” a day in her life. Until today. Normally a woman who tips her hairdresser even when the cut is hideous, is endlessly patient with her horrendous mother, and says “yes” every time her boss asks her to work late. Today, things are going to be very different. Because Clover is taking the day off. Today, she’s going to do and say whatever she likes, even if it means her whole life unravels. What made Clover change her ways? Why doesn’t she care anymore? There’s more to this day than meets the eye.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593540312

EVERY MAN A KING: A King Oliver Novel by Walter Mosley (Mystery)
When friend of the family and multi-billionaire Roger Ferris comes to Joe King Oliver with an assignment, he has no choice but to accept. White nationalist Alfred Xavier Quiller has been accused of murder and the sale of sensitive information to the Russians. Ferris has reason to believe that Quiller has been set up, and he needs King to see if the charges hold. This linear assignment becomes a winding quest to uncover the extent of Quiller’s dealings, understand Ferris’ skin in the game, and get to the bottom of who is working for whom. Even with the help of bodyguard and mercenary Oliya Ruez, the machine King is up against proves relentless and unsparing. As King gets closer to exposing the truth, he and his loved ones barrel towards grave danger.
Mulholland Books | 9780316460200

EVERYBODY KNOWS by Jordan Harper (Mystery)
As a “black-bag” publicist tasked not with letting the good news out but keeping the bad news in, Mae Pruett works for one of LA’s most powerful and sought-after crisis PR firms, at the center of a sprawling web of lawyers, PR flaks and private security firms she calls “The Beast.” After her boss is gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel in a random attack, Mae takes it upon herself to investigate and runs headfirst into The Beast’s lawless machinations and the twisted systems it exists to perpetuate. It takes her on a roving neon joyride through a Los Angeles full of influencers pumped full of pills and fillers; sprawling mansions footsteps away from sprawling homeless encampments; crooked cops; and mysterious wrecking crews in the middle of the night.
Mulholland Books | 9780316458023

FINLAY DONOVAN JUMPS THE GUN by Elle Cosimano (Mystery/Humor)
Finlay Donovan has been in messes before --- after all, she's an author and single mom who’s a pro at getting out bloodstains for rather unexpected reasons --- but none quite like this. She and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they “borrowed” in the process of saving Finlay’s ex-husband. The Russian mob handled her debt, but that means Finlay now owes them. Still running the show from behind bars, mob boss Feliks has a task for Finlay: find a contract killer before the cops do. Problem is, the killer might be an officer. Luckily, hot cop Nick has started up a citizen’s police academy, so Finlay has the perfect cover-up to sleuth out the real criminal as she does some “research” for her new novel. Nick is more than happy to get close to Finlay, but he’s also getting dangerously close to the truth.
Minotaur Books | 9781250846051

THE HOUSE OF PLAIN TRUTH by Donna Hemans (Fiction)
Paperback Original
With news of her father’s passing, Pearline abruptly leaves her daughter and grandchildren behind in Brooklyn to return to her childhood home in Jamaica. But Pearline isn’t prepared for her father’s puzzling deathbed wish that she find her siblings --- whom she hasn’t seen in 60 years --- and discover the secret that tore her family apart. Moving through time and place, from Cuba to Montego Bay and from Brooklyn to Havana, THE HOUSE OF PLAIN TRUTH traces Pearline’s reconciliation of what she thought she knew about her family and the truth of their origin.
Zibby Books | 9781958506073

HOW WE NAMED THE STARS by Andrés N. Ordorica (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Daniel de La Luna arrives as a scholarship student at an elite East Coast university, he bears the weight of his family’s hopes and dreams, and the burden of sharing his late uncle’s name. Daniel flounders at first --- but then Sam, his roommate, changes everything. As their relationship evolves from brotherly banter to something more intimate, Daniel soon finds himself in love with a man who helps him see himself in a new light. But just as their relationship takes flight, Daniel is pulled away, first by Sam’s hesitation and then by a brutal turn of events that changes Daniel’s life forever. As he grapples with profound loss, Daniel finds himself in his family’s ancestral homeland in México for the summer, finding joy in this setting even as he struggles to come to terms with what’s happened and faces a host of new questions.
Tin House Books | 9781959030331

LOYALTY by Lisa Scottoline (Historical Fiction)
Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome lemon grower toiling on the estate of a baron. When the baron asks him to kidnap a little boy named Dante, Franco makes a decision that will change his life --- and even the history of Sicily --- forever. Gaetano Catalano is an idealistic young lawyer who is a member of the Beati Paoli, a real-life secret society of aristocrats who investigate crime in Palermo. Gaetano sets out to find the boy and punish the kidnapper, but his mission leads him to a darker place than he had ever imagined. Meanwhile, Mafalda Pancari is a new mother rejoicing at the birth of her daughter, Lucia, when disaster strikes. And Alfredo D’Antonio is a reclusive goatherd under constant threat of being discovered as a Jew. These characters will collide as LOYALTY twists and turns to its monumental showdown.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525539834

MISFIRE by Tammy Euliano (Medical Thriller)
Kadence, a new type of implanted defibrillator, misfires in a patient visiting University Hospital for a routine medical procedure. Dr. Kate Downey, an experienced anesthesiologist, resuscitates the patient, but she grows concerned for a loved one who recently received the same device --- her beloved Great-Aunt Irm. When a second device misfires, Kate turns to Nikki Yarborough, her friend and Aunt Irm’s cardiologist. Though Nikki helps protect Kate’s aunt, she is prevented from alerting other patients by the corporate greed of her department chairman. As the inventor of the device and part owner of MDI, the company he formed to commercialize it, he claims that the device misfires are due to a soon-to-be-corrected software bug. Kate learns his claim is false.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096039

MISSING PERSONS: A Private Novel by James Patterson, with Adam Hamdy (Thriller)
Paperback Original
A wealthy businessman approaches Jack Morgan, head of Private --- the world's largest investigation agency --- with a desperate plea to track down his daughter and two grandchildren, who have disappeared without a trace. What at first seems to be a simple missing persons case soon escalates into something much more deadly, when Jack discovers the daughter is being pursued by highly trained operatives. As Jack uncovers more of the woman's backstory, the trail leads towards Afghanistan --- where Jack's career as a US Marine ended in catastrophe. Jack will need to face the trauma of his past to save a family's future.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538754528

MOCKINGBIRD SUMMER by Lynda Rutledge (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In segregated High Cotton, Texas, in 1964, the racial divide is as clear as the railroad tracks running through town. It’s also where two girls are going to shake things up. This is the last summer of 13-year-old Corky Corcoran’s childhood, and her family hires a Haitian housekeeper who brings her daughter, America, along with her. Corky is quick to befriend America and eager to share her favorite new “grown-up” novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. America’s take on it is different and profoundly personal. As their friendship grows, Corky finds out so much more about America’s life and her hidden skill: she can run as fast as Olympian Wilma Rudolph! When Corky asks America to play with her girls’ softball team for the annual church rivals game, it’s a move that crosses the color line and sets off a firestorm.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662504518

MONSTRILIO by Gerardo Sámano Córdova (Literary Horror)
Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased 11-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses --- though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care --- threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.
Zando | 9781638931607

NIGHT WHEREVER YOU GO by Tracey Rose Peyton (Historical Fiction)
On a struggling Texas plantation, six enslaved women slip from their sleeping quarters and gather in the woods under the cover of night. The Lucys --- as they call the plantation owners, after Lucifer himself --- have decided to turn around the farm’s bleak financial prospects by making the women bear children. They have hired a “stockman” to impregnate them. But the women are determined to protect themselves. Now each of the six faces a choice. Nan, the doctoring woman, has brought a sack of cotton root clippings that can stave off children when chewed daily. If they all take part, the Lucys may give up and send the stockman away. But a pregnancy for any of them will only encourage the Lucys further. And should their plan be discovered, the consequences will be severe.
Ecco | 9780063249882

NONNA MARIA AND THE CASE OF THE STOLEN NECKLACE by Lorenzo Carcaterra (Mystery)
Two crimes have rocked the sun-drenched island of Ischia. And once again, the island’s denizens have called upon Nonna Maria, the espresso-brewing, sage-counsel-giving sleuth. A wealthy woman alleges that a valuable necklace has been stolen from her hotel room, and she blames Nonna Maria’s goddaughter as the most likely suspect. Nearby, the body of a woman is found on a curved road near the borough of Barano. The woman is not known to anyone on the island. The one potential suspect is a young friend of Nonna Maria’s who drove by the area that very night and thinks he might have hit something --- perhaps the woman in question. It’s up to Nonna Maria to string together the clues and solve these two mysteries before death comes to Ischia again.
Bantam | 9780593499207

A QUANTUM LOVE STORY by Mike Chen (Science Fiction)
Paperback Original
Grieving her best friend's recent death, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda is ready to give up everything to start anew. Even her career --- after one last week consulting at a top-secret particle accelerator. Except the strangest thing happens: a man stops her and claims they've met before. Carter Cho knows who she is, why she's mourning and why she's there. And he needs Mariana to remember everything he’s saying. Because time is about to loop. In a flash of energy, it’s Monday morning. Again. Together, Mariana and Carter enter an inevitable life, four days at a time, over and over, without permanence except for what they share. But just as they figure out this new life, everything changes. Because Carter's memories of the time loop are slowly disappearing. And their only chance at happiness is breaking out of the loop --- forever.
Mira | 9780778369509

THE QUEEN OF SUGAR HILL: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel by ReShonda Tate (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
It was supposed to be the highlight of her career, the pinnacle for which she’d worked all her life. And as Hattie McDaniel took the stage in 1940 to claim an honor that would make her the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award, she tearfully took her place in history. Between personal triumphs and tragedies, heartbreaking losses and severe setbacks, this historic night of winning best supporting actress for her role as the sassy Mammy in the controversial movie Gone with the Wind was going to be life-changing. Or so she thought. Months after winning the award, not only did the Oscar curse set in where Hattie couldn’t find work, but she found herself thrust in the middle of two worlds --- Black and White --- and not being welcomed in either.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063291072

RED TEAM BLUES: A Martin Hench Novel by Cory Doctorow
(Science Fiction/Technothriller)
Martin Hench is a 67-year-old self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money and those who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires and international drug gangs alike. He also knows Silicon Valley like the back of his hand. Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before --- and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.
Tor Books | 9781250865854

TWENTY-SEVEN MINUTES by Ashley Tate (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
For the last 10 years, the small, claustrophobic town of West Wilmer has been struggling to understand one thing: Why did it take young Grant Dean 27 minutes to call for help on the fateful night of the car accident that took the life of his beloved sister, Phoebe? Someone knows what really happened the night Phoebe died. Someone who is ready to tell the truth. With Phoebe's memorial in just three days, grief, delusion, ambition and regret tornado together with biting gossip in a town full of people obsessed with a long-gone tragedy with four people at its heart --- the caretaker, the secret girlfriend, the missing bad boy and a former football star. Just kids back then, they are forever tied together the fateful rainy night Phoebe died.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728278148

VARINA PALLADINO’S JERSEY ITALIAN LOVE STORY by Terri-Lynne DeFino (Fiction)
Lively widow Varina Paladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s, but its population is getting younger and the Paladinos are embracing the change. What Varina is not embracing is dating. Running Paladino’s Italian Specialties grocery, caring for her mother and keeping her large, loud Jersey Italian family from killing one another take up all of Varina’s energy anyway. Sylvia Spini worries about her daughter being left all alone when she dies; she knows what it is to be old and alone. So when her granddaughter, Donatella, comes to her with an ill-conceived plan to find Varina a man, she dives in. The three men of the family are each secretly plotting their own big life changes, which will throw everyone for a loop.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063228443

VICTORY CITY by Salman Rushdie (Historical Fantasy/Magical Realism)
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in 14th-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for her namesake, the goddess Pampa, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga --- “victory city” --- the wonder of the world. Over the next 250 years, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga’s, from its literal sowing from a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593243411

WADE IN THE WATER by Nyani Nkrumah (Fiction)
Set in 1982, in rural, racially divided Ricksville, Mississippi, WADE IN THE WATER tells the story of Ella, a Black, unloved, precocious 11-year-old, and Ms. St. James, a mysterious white woman from Princeton who appears in Ella’s community to carry out some research. Soon, Ms. St. James befriends Ella, who is willing to risk everything to keep her new friend in a town that does not want her there. The relationship between Ella and Ms. St. James, at times loving and funny and other times tense and cautious, becomes more fraught and complex as Ella unwittingly pushes at Ms. St. James’ carefully constructed boundaries that guard a complicated past, and dangerous secrets that could have devastating consequences.
Amistad | 9780063226623

YOUR UTOPIA: Stories written by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
(Fiction/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
Bora Chung’s inimitable blend of horror, absurdity and dark humor reaches its peak in these tales of loss and discovery, dystopia and idealism, death and immortality. In a thrilling translation by the acclaimed Anton Hur, readers will experience a variety of possible fates for humanity. In “The Center for Immortality Research,” a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors only to be blamed for the chaos that ensues during the event in front of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. In “A Song for Sleep,” an AI elevator in an apartment complex develops a tender, one-sided love for an elderly resident. “Seed” traverses the final frontier of capitalism’s destruction of the planet --- but nature always creeps back to life.
Algonquin Books | 9781643756219

On Sale the Week of February 5th in Hardcover

February 6th

THE ADVERSARY by Michael Crummey (Fiction)
In an isolated outport on Newfoundland's northern coastline, Abe Strapp is about to marry the daughter of a rival merchant to cement his hold on the shore when the Widow Caines arrives to throw the wedding and Abe's plans into chaos. That ruthless act of sabotage is the opening salvo in a battle between the man and woman who own Mockbeggar's largest mercantile firms, each fighting for the scarce resources of the north Atlantic fishery, each seeking a measure of revenge on the person they despise most in the world. As their unshakeable animosity spirals further each year into vendettas and violence, the community is increasingly divided --- and even the innocents in Mockbeggar find themselves forced to take sides, with devastating consequences.
Doubleday | 9780385550321

THE ANTIQUE HUNTER'S GUIDE TO MURDER by C. L. Miller
(Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, an antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last 20 years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate --- sent just days before his death --- Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind. Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But it’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate, and how was Arthur involved? Can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?
Atria Books | 9781668032008

ANTIQUITY written by Hanna Johansson, translated by Kira Josefsson (Fiction)
On a Greek island rich with ancient beauty, a lonely woman in her 30s upends the relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter. Lust and admiration for Helena, a chic older artist, brings the book’s unnamed narrator to Ermoupoli, where Helena’s daughter, Olga, seems at first like an obstacle and a nuisance. But the unpredictable forces of ego and desire take over, leading our narrator down a more dangerous path, and causing the roles of lover and beloved, child and adult, stranger and intimate to become distorted. As the months go by, the fragile web connecting the three women nears rupture, and the ominous consequences of their entanglement loom just beyond a summer that must end.
Catapult | 9781646221714

BURMA SAHIB by Paul Theroux (Historical Fiction)
At age 19, young Eton graduate Eric Blair set sail for India, dreading the assignment ahead. Along with several other young conscripts, he would be trained for three years as a servant of the British Empire, overseeing the local policemen in Burma. Navigating the social, racial and class politics of his fellow British at the same time as he learned the local languages and struggled to control his men would prove difficult enough. But doing all of this while grappling with his own self-worth, his sense that he was not cut out for this, is soon overwhelming for the young Blair. Eventually, his clashes with his superiors, and the drama that unfolds in this hot, beautiful land, will change him forever.
Mariner Books | 9780063297548

DEAR MOM AND DAD: A Letter About Family, Memory, and the America We Once Knew by Patti Davis (Memoir)
Eager to retell the narrative of her own family and her coming of age, Patti Davis casts aside misperceptions that defined her in the past. DEAR MOM AND DAD reveals young Patti as a sensitive child, who was not able to be the public person her family demanded. Just as she re-examines her own role in an increasingly dysfunctional family drama, Davis casts an empathetic yet honest eye on her parents --- her father, the eternal lifeguard, who saved 77 people, yet failed to create a coherent AIDS policy, and her mother, who never escaped her own tortured youth. Even as she unravels her mother’s highly edited persona, and her father’s loving but distant personality, Davis remains steadfast in her artistic expression, as she melds irony, comedy and tragedy with dreamlike memories of an ever-present past.
Liveright | 9781324093480

EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander (Thriller)
Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve --- events known to the public as "Scarlet Christmas" --- though Charlie knows she was much more than that. Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She's the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everything she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in nine years. Now, she's not going to let anything --- not even the people she once loved most --- get in her way.
Minotaur Books | 9781250890849

FLOAT UP, SING DOWN: Stories by Laird Hunt (Fiction/Short Stories)
Candy Wilson has forgotten to buy the paprika. Turner Davis needs to get his zinnias in. Della Dorner told her mother she was going to the Galaxy Swirl, but that's not where she's really headed on her new Schwinn five-speed. FLOAT UP, SING DOWN is the story of a single day. But in that day, how much teeming life! The residents of this rural town have their routines, preferences, joys, grudges and regrets. Gossip is paramount. Lives are entwined. Retired sheriffs climb corn bins and muse on lost love, French teachers throw firecrackers out of barn windows, and teenagers borrow motorcycles to ride the back roads. Each of these 14 stories follows one character's day in the life in one of Laird Hunt's most beloved and enduring landscapes.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639730100

FOURTEEN DAYS: A Collaborative Novel edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston (Fiction)
One week into the COVID-19 shutdown, tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbors gather, bringing chairs, milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants --- some of whom have barely spoken to each other --- become real neighbors. In this DECAMERON-like serial novel, general editors Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston and a star-studded list of contributors create a beautiful ode to the people who couldn’t escape when the pandemic hit. A dazzling, heartwarming and ultimately surprising narrative, FOURTEEN DAYS reveals how beneath the horrible loss and suffering, some communities managed to become stronger.
Harper | 9780358616382

THE GHOST ORCHID: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman (Psychological Thriller)
A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor. An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But the house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,” and when that happens, LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents?
Ballantine Books | 9780593497678

GRETA & VALDIN by Rebecca K Reilly (Fiction)
It’s been a year since his ex-boyfriend dumped him and moved from Auckland to Buenos Aires, and Valdin is doing fine. He has a good flat with his sister Greta, a good career where his colleagues only occasionally remind him that he is the sole Maaori person in the office, and a good friend who he only sleeps with when he’s sad. But when work sends him to Argentina and he’s thrown back in his former lover’s orbit, Valdin is forced to confront the feelings he’s been trying to ignore --- and the future he wants. Greta is not letting her painfully unrequited crush get her down. She would love to focus on the charming fellow grad student she meets at a party and her friendships with a circle of similarly floundering twenty-somethings, but her chaotic family life won’t stop intruding.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668028049

HOLLYWOOD HUSTLE by Jon Lindstrom (Thriller)
Winston Greene, a has-been film star, wakes up one morning to find his six-year-old granddaughter at his bedside --- traumatized, unattended and gripping onto a thumb drive. She comes bearing video proof that her mother, Win’s troubled adult daughter, has been kidnapped by a murderous gang demanding all his “movie money” for her safe return. But what they don’t know is that his movie money is long gone. Unable to go to the police for fear the kidnappers will make good on their promise to kill his daughter, Winston turns to two close friends: a legendary Hollywood stuntman and a disgraced former LAPD detective. There’s no easy way out for Winston or his daughter, and he begins to realize that to get her back, he’ll have to beat the kidnappers at their own game.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639106295

LAST SEEN IN HAVANA: A Havana Mystery by Teresa Dovalpage (Mystery)
Newly widowed baker Mercedes Spivey flies from Miami to her native Cuba in 2019 to care for her ailing paternal grandmother. Mercedes’ life has been shaped by loss, beginning with the mysterious unsolved disappearance of her mother when Mercedes was a little girl. Returning to Cuba revives Mercedes’ hopes of finding her mother as she attempts to piece together the few scraps of information she has. Thirty-three years earlier, an American college student with endless political optimism falls deliriously in love with a handsome Cuban soldier while on a spontaneous visit to the island. She decides to stay permanently but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in Havana. The two women’s stories proceed in parallel as Mercedes gets closer to the truth about her mother, uncovering shocking family secrets in the process.
Soho Crime | 9781641295390

LIKE A MOTHER by Mina Hardy (Psychological Thriller)
Sarah and Adam Granatt had the perfect suburban life. They were the couple everyone envied --- until Adam died. In the wake of his death, Adam’s secrets begin to emerge. The first comes out when a woman named Candace introduces herself to Sarah as Adam’s mother. Sarah is rightfully confused: Adam had always said his mother was dead. Adam also lied about making sure Sarah, Ellie and the new baby would be taken care of financially. Candace can offer emotional support and, better yet, a place to stay until after the baby is born. Living in Adam’s childhood home, Sarah begins to understand the life he had before they met. When Sarah notices Candace’s strange obsession with her, and the house begins to feel less like salvation and more like a cage, she realizes that the secrets go deeper than she ever could’ve imagined.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639106233

A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE by Tia Williams (Romance)
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. In her bones, Ricki knows that a more exciting life awaits her somewhere. When regal nonagenarian Ms. Della invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers. One evening in February, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538726709

NIGHTWATCHING by Tracy Sierra (Domestic Thriller)
Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. Suddenly she hears footsteps coming up the stairs and sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender. In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm and to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is --- and what he wants.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593654767

ONE WRONG WORD by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Psychological Thriller)
Unfairly accused of having an affair with a powerful client, crisis management expert Arden Ward’s life and dreams are about to crash and burn. Then Arden is given an ultimatum. She has just two weeks to save her career and her reputation. Is Cordelia Bannister the answer to her prayers? Cordelia needs Arden’s help for her husband Ned, a Boston real estate mogul who was recently acquitted in a fatal drunk driving accident. But his reputation is ruined, and the fallout is devastating for his family. Revelations soon begin to emerge about what really happened the night of the accident. And then another car crash throws Ned back into the spotlight. The more Arden tries to untangle the truth, the more she’s haunted by one disturbing question: What if she’s also protecting a killer?
Forge Books | 9781250849496

ORDINARY HUMAN FAILINGS by Megan Nolan (Fiction)
It's 1990 in London, and reporter Tom Hargreaves’ star seems set to rise when he stumbles across a sensational scoop: a dead child on a London estate, grieving parents beloved across the neighborhood, and the finger of suspicion pointing at one reclusive family of Irish immigrants and “bad apples”: the Greens. At their heart sits Carmel: beautiful, otherworldly, broken, and once destined for a future beyond her circumstances until life --- and love --- got in her way. Crushed by failure and surrounded by disappointment, there's nowhere for her to go and no chance of escape. Now, with the police closing in on a suspect and the tabloids hunting their monster, she must confront the secrets and silences that have trapped her family for so many generations.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316567787

OWNING UP: New Fiction by George Pelecanos (Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Esteemed crime fiction writer George Pelecanos has penned four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence and humanity. When the son of the Carusos is involved in a hold-up, the family home comes under siege in the form of a no-knock warrant. Months after the cops destroyed their home, the Carusos struggle to return to normal. Elsewhere, two former inmates reunite by chance on the set of a TV production. Both have found their way on the straight and narrow path, until one sees the potential for an easy grift. A teenage boy must step into the man he'd like to be as a hostage crisis grips his hometown. A woman adrift meets a man tied to her grandmother's past, an encounter that awakens her to a bloody history that undergirds the place she grew up.
Mulholland Books | 9780316570473

A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES: A Novel in the Shadow of the Russian Mafia by Robert Littell (Thriller)
On Christmas Day, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev delivered a 10-minute televised speech announcing his resignation as Soviet president. Moments later, the red flag was lowered from its floodlit perch atop the Kremlin, and the Soviet Union ceases to exist. Into the vacuum surged the Russian mafia, supplying what the new state could not: krysha, or "roof" --- protection for the privately owned businesses sprouting up across the country. Rivalries turned bloody as Moscow's Jewish mafia battled the Ossete vory v zakone (literally "thieves-in-law") for control of the city. Caught up in the mayhem, Yulia, only daughter of the Jewish mafia godfather, and Roman, only son of the Ossete mafia godfather, navigated the minefield of a star-crossed love affair as they attempt to escape a destiny that appears preordained.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798212227711

THE PRICE YOU PAY: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller)
Lewis has helped Peter Ash out of more trouble than Peter cares to remember, so he doesn’t hesitate when Lewis asks for a favor in return. Lewis has left his criminal past behind, but he and Peter must drive into a blizzard to help a former associate. They learn that someone has stolen notebooks full of incriminating secrets about Lewis' long-ago crimes, and they realize the situation is much worse than they'd thought. To save Lewis’ wife and two boys, Lewis and Peter must find the notebooks. With Peter's longtime girlfriend, they begin the search --- facing ruthless and violent foes at each turn, including one powerful person who will stop at nothing for revenge. Will Lewis and Peter be able to keep that dark past buried? Or will they need to step into the darkness to save the people they love most?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593540558

REDWOOD COURT by DéLana R. A. Dameron (Fiction)
On Redwood Court, the cul-de-sac in the all-Black working-class suburb of Columbia, South Carolina, where her grandparents live, Mika Tabor learns important lessons from the people who raise her: her exhausted parents, who work long hours at multiple jobs while still making sure their kids experience the adventure of family vacations; her older sister, who in a house filled with Motown would rather listen to Alanis Morrisette; her retired grandparents, children of Jim Crow, who realized their own vision of success when they bought their house on the Court in the 1960s, imagining it filled with future generations; and the many neighbors who hold tight to the community they’ve built, committed to fostering joy and love in an America so insistent on seeing Black people stumble and fall.
The Dial Press | 9780593447024

THE ROAD FROM BELHAVEN by Margot Livesey (Historical Fiction)
Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven Farm, Lizzie Craig discovers as a small child that she can see into the future. But her gift is selective. She doesn’t, for instance, see that she has an older sister who will come to join the family. As her “pictures” foretell various incidents and accidents, she begins to realize a painful truth: she may glimpse the future, but she can seldom change it. Nor can Lizzie change the feelings that come when a young man named Louis begins to court her. Why have the adults around her not revealed that the touch of a hand can change everything? After following Louis to Glasgow, though, she learns the limits of his devotion. Faced with a seemingly impossible choice, she makes a terrible mistake. But her second sight may allow her a second chance.
Knopf | 9780593537046

TALES OF THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM written by Sue Lynn Tan, illustrated by Kelly Chong (Fantasy/Short Stories)
TALES FROM THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM collects nine spellbinding stories --- two previously published and seven original, including the epilogue to the Celestial Kingdom duology --- set in the enchanting world of DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS and HEART OF THE SUN WARRIOR. Filled with magic and mythology, friendship and love, these stories intertwine through the past, present and future of the two novels, told from the perspectives of multiple characters, including Chang’e, Shuxiao, Liwei and Wenzhi. With beautiful illustrations from Kelly Chong throughout, these wondrous tales make the perfect complement to Sue Lynn Tan’s breathtaking series.
Harper Voyager | 9780063326699

UNION STATION: A John Russell Novel by David Downing (Historical Thriller)
John Russell, an English journalist, had always been a reluctant spy. It’s a dangerous life --- especially when you are tasked with being a double agent for Soviet and American intelligence. But it’s been years since Russell was finally able to extricate himself from his life of espionage --- through a shady deal with a high-ranking Soviet official. Now it’s 1953, and Russell and his family live a life of relative comfort in Los Angeles. Feeling somewhat adrift, Russell has just begun work on a book investigating American firms that continued doing business with Germany during Nazi occupation. Then he notices someone is tailing him around Los Angeles. Has someone not taken kindly to his research? Or could it be that the deal he struck all those years ago has left him with unfinished business?
Soho Crime | 9781641293570

WHY WE READ: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out by Shannon Reed (Literary Criticism/Essays)
We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and, perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In WHY WE READ, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335007964

THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah (Historical Fiction)
“Women can be heroes, too.” When 20-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing and being a good girl. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250178633

THE YEAR OF THE LOCUST by Terry Hayes (Political Thriller)
If, like Kane, you’re a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again --- by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide --- and when to shoot. But some places don’t play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane’s experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place --- a place where violence is the only way to survive. Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West, but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668055786

On Sale the Week of February 5th in Paperback

February 6th

ALL THAT IS MINE I CARRY WITH ME by William Landay (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find her house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of a struggle. Her mom’s pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot. So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin? Investigators suspect Jane’s husband. A criminal defense attorney, Dan Larkin surely would be an expert in outfoxing the police. But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public’s memory. Jane’s three children --- Alex, Jeff and Miranda --- are left to be raised by the man who may have murdered their mother. Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides.
Bantam | 9780345531865

B.F.F.: A Memoir of Friendship Lost and Found by Christie Tate (Memoir)
After more than a decade of dead-end dates and dysfunctional relationships, Christie Tate has reclaimed her voice and settled down. Her days of agonizing in group therapy over guys who won’t commit are over, the grueling emotional work required to attach to another person tucked neatly into the past. But she soon realizes that the feeling of “apartness” that has plagued her since childhood isn’t magically going away now that she’s in a healthy romantic relationship. With her friend, Meredith, by her side, she embarks on a brutally honest exploration of her friendships past and present, sorting through the ways that debilitating shame and jealousy have kept the lasting bonds she craves out of reach --- and how she can overcome a history of letting go too soon.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668009437

THE BLACKHOUSE by Carole Johnstone (Gothic Thriller)
Maggie Mackay has been haunted her entire life. No matter what she does, she can’t shake the sense that something is wrong with her. And maybe something is. When she was five years old, Maggie announced that a man on the remote island of Kilmeray in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides --- a place she’d never visited --- was murdered. Her unfounded claim drew media attention and turned the locals against each other, creating rifts that never mended. Now, nearly 20 years later, Maggie is determined to discover what really happened and what the villagers are hiding. But everyone has secrets, and some are deadly. As she gets closer to the horrifying truth, the island’s legendary and violent storms begin to rage again, and Maggie’s own life is in danger.
Scribner | 9781982199685

BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood (Paranormal Romance)
Paperback Original
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is once again an outcast. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over. She has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange. Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was. Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about.
Berkley | 9780593550403

CALL AND RESPONSE: Stories by Gothataone Moeng (Fiction/Short Stories)
A young widow adheres to the expectations of wearing mourning clothes for nearly a year, though she's unsure what the traditions mean or whether she is ready to meet the world without their protection. An older sister returns home from a confusing time in America, only to explain at every turn why she’s left the land of opportunity. A younger sister hides her sexual exploits from her family, while her older brother openly flaunts his infidelity. The stories collected in CALL AND RESPONSE are strongly anchored in place --- in the village of Serowe, where the author is from, and in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana --- charting the emotional journeys of women seeking love and opportunity beyond the barriers of custom and circumstance.
Penguin Books | 9780593491003

CITY OF DREAMS by Don Winslow (Thriller)
On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops and the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life. But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune --- or kill him. When Hollywood starts shooting a film based on his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire. Then he falls in love with a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own. As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born. Or where they go to die.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062851246

THE CLIFF’S EDGE: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
Restless and uncertain of her future in the wake of World War I, former battlefield nurse Bess Crawford agrees to travel to Yorkshire to help a friend of her cousin Melinda through surgery. But circumstances change suddenly when news of a terrible accident reaches them. Bess agrees to go to isolated Scarfdale and the Neville family, where one man has been killed and another gravely injured. The police are asking questions, and Bess is quickly drawn into the fray as two once close families take sides. When another tragedy strikes, the police are ready to make an arrest. What dark truth is behind these deaths? And what about the tale of an older murder --- one that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the Nevilles?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063039957

COMMITMENT by Mona Simpson (Fiction)
When Diane Aziz drives her oldest son, Walter, from Los Angeles to college at UC Berkeley, it will be her last parental act before falling into a deep depression. A single mother who maintains a wishful belief that her children can attain all the things she hasn’t, she’s worked hard to secure their future in caste-driven 1980s Los Angeles, gaining them illegal entry to an affluent public school. When she enters a state hospital, her closest friend tries to keep the children safe and their mother’s dreams for them alive. Moving from Berkeley and Los Angeles to New York and back again, this is a story about one family trying to navigate the crisis of their lives, a crisis many know firsthand in their own families or in those of their neighbors.
Vintage | 9780593312964

THE DIARY KEEPERS: World War II Written by the People Who Lived Through It by Nina Siegal (History)
Journalist Nina Siegal, who grew up in a family that had survived the Holocaust in Europe, had always wondered about the experience of regular people during World War II. She had heard stories of the war as a child and Anne Frank’s diary, but the tales were either crafted as moral lessons --- to never waste food, to be grateful for all you receive, to hide your silver --- or told with a punchline. The details of the past went untold in an effort to make it easier to assimilate into American life. When Siegal moved to Amsterdam as an adult, those questions came up again, as did another horrifying one: Why did 75% of the Dutch Jewish community perish in the war, while in other Western European countries the proportions were significantly lower?
Ecco | 9780063070660

THE DRIFT by C. J. Tudor (Gothic Thriller/Horror)
Evacuated from a secluded boarding school during a snowstorm, Hannah’s coach careers off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors. Meg is in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board. They are heading to a place known only as “The Retreat,” but Meg realizes they may not all make it there alive. Carter is gazing out the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails. The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater danger --- one with the power to consume all of humanity.
Ballantine Books | 9780593356586

EXILES by Jane Harper (Mystery/Thriller)
Federal Investigator Aaron Falk is on his way to a small town deep in Southern Australian wine country for the christening of an old friend's baby. But mystery follows him, even on vacation. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Kim Gillespie's disappearance. One year ago, at a busy town festival on a warm spring night, Kim safely tucked her sleeping baby into her stroller, then vanished into the crowd. No one has seen her since. When Kim's older daughter makes a plea for anyone with information about her missing mom to come forward, Falk and his old buddy Raco can't leave the case alone. What would make a mother abandon her child? What happened to Kim Gillespie?
Flatiron Books | 9781250235367

FIFTY BEASTS TO BREAK YOUR HEART: And Other Stories by GennaRose Nethercott (Fantasy/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
These stories are about the abomination that resides within us all. That churning, clawing, ravenous yearning: the hunger to be held, and seen, and known. And the terror, too: to be loved too well, or not enough, or for long enough. Two teenage girls working at a sinister roadside attraction explore its secrets --- and their own doomed summer love. A zombie rooster plays detective in a missing persons case. A woman moves into a new house with her acclaimed artist boyfriend --- and finds her body slowly shifting into something specially constructed to accommodate his needs and whims. A pack of middle schoolers turn to the occult to rid themselves of a hated new classmate. And a pair of outcasts, a vampire and a goat woman, find solace in each other, even as the world's lack of understanding might bring about its own end.
Vintage | 9780593314180

THE HOUSE OF EVE by Sadeqa Johnson (Historical Fiction)
1950s Philadelphia: Fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright. When Eleanor Quarles meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby --- and fitting in --- is easier said than done. With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982197377

THE HOUSE OF LINCOLN by Nancy Horan (Historical Fiction)
THE HOUSE OF LINCOLN tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's ascendance from rumpled lawyer to U.S. president to Great Emancipator through the eyes of a young immigrant who arrives in Lincoln's home of Springfield, Illinois, from Madeira, Portugal. Showing intelligence beyond society's expectations, 14-year-old Ana Ferreira is offered a job in the Lincoln household assisting Mary Lincoln with their boys and with the hosting duties borne by the wife of a rising political star. Ana bears witness to the evolution of Lincoln's views on equality and the Union, and observes in full complexity the psyche and pain of his bold, polarizing wife. Yet, alongside her dearest friend in the Black community, she also directly experiences how slavery contradicts the promise of freedom in her adopted country.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728282114

I WILL FIND YOU by Harlan Coben (Thriller)
David Burroughs was once a devoted father to his three-year-old son Matthew, living a dream life just a short drive away from the working-class suburb where he and his wife, Cheryl, first fell in love --- until one fateful night when David woke suddenly to discover Matthew had been murdered. Half a decade later, David has been wrongly accused and convicted of the murder, left to serve out his time in a maximum-security prison. Then Cheryl’s younger sister, Rachel, makes a surprise appearance during visiting hours bearing a strange photograph. It’s a vacation shot of a bustling amusement park a friend shared with her, and in the background is a boy bearing an eerie resemblance to David’s son. Even though it can’t be, David just knows: Matthew is still alive.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538748381

THE KIND WORTH SAVING by Peter Swanson (Mystery/Thriller)
There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: He knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy. Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a FOR SALE sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063204997

THE LAST ORPHAN: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
As a child, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program, he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, and found himself slowly back on the government's radar. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of his pursuers. Until he makes one little mistake. Now the President has him in her control and offers Evan a deal --- eliminate a rich, powerful man she says is too dangerous to live, and she'll let Evan survive. But when Evan left the Program, he swore to only use his skills against those who really deserve it. Now he has to decide what's more important --- his principles or his life.
Minotaur Books | 9781250336538

LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle (Historical Thriller/Supernatural Horror)
Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear. The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it --- except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.
One World | 9780525512103

THE LOVE SCRIBE by Amy Meyerson (Fiction)
When Alice’s best friend, Gabby, is reeling from a breakup, Alice writes her a heartfelt story to cheer her up. While reading it in a café, Gabby meets the man of her dreams. Thinking the story might have some special power to it, Gabby shares it with her sister and other friends, who all find instant love. Word of mouth spreads, and Alice stumbles upon a new calling --- to be a love scribe. But not all the love stories she writes unfold as expected. And while Alice tries to harness her extraordinary gift, she is summoned to a mansion in the woods where she encounters the reclusive Madeline Alger and her mysterious library. As Alice struggles to write a story for Madeline, her most challenging assignment yet, she’s forced to confront her own guarded heart.
Park Row | 9780778310778

MAAME by Jessica George (Fiction)
It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting. So when her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie seizes the chance to move out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts.” But when tragedy strikes, Maddie is forced to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils --- and rewards --- of putting her heart on the line.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250853738

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (Mystery/Thriller)
After scoring a plea deal in a high-profile murder trial, serial killer James Michael Barrett leads a grim parade of law enforcement officers to the body of his last victim. At the alleged burial site, the officers swing their shovels down and are met with a strange metallic sound they weren’t expecting. In a blink, a terrific explosion rocks the woods, killing Barrett and most of the officers instantly. The detonation is only the beginning of a shocking case for FBI consultant Kendra Michaels. A string of heinous murders in the style of the very-dead Barrett mysteriously continue, and it becomes clear that he may not have been working alone. But the killer has a terrifying plan that Kendra and her team are only beginning to understand.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538726242

NIGHT FLIGHT TO PARIS: A Kate Rees WWII Novel by Cara Black (Historical Thriller)
October 1942: It’s been two years since Kate Rees was sent to Paris on a British Secret Service mission to assassinate Hitler. Since then, she has left spycraft behind to take a training job as a sharpshooting instructor in the Scottish Highlands. But her quiet life is violently disrupted when Colonel Stepney, her former handler, drags her back into the fray for a risky three-pronged mission in Paris. Each task is more dangerous than the next: Deliver a package of forbidden biological material. Assassinate a high-ranking German operative whose knowledge of invasion plans could turn the tide of the war against the Allies. Rescue a British agent who once saved Kate’s life --- and get out.
Soho Crime | 9781641295666

QUEENS OF LONDON by Heather Webb (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1925, London. When Alice Diamond, aka "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she's determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She has a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen and demands absolute loyalty from her "family" --- it's how she's always kept the cops in line. Too bad she's now the target for one of Britain's first female policewomen. Officer Lilian Wyles isn't merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she's one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she'll have to win a big score to prove herself. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice's new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she's been looking for --- and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728245003

A SINISTER REVENGE: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna Raybourn (Historical Mystery)
Veronica Speedwell’s natural-historian beau, Stoker, has been away in Bavaria for months, and their relationship is at an impasse. But when Veronica shows up before him with his brother, Tiberius, Lord Templeton-Vane, he is lured back home by an intriguing job offer: preparing an iguanodon for a very special dinner party. Tiberius has received a cryptic message --- along with the obituaries of two recently deceased members of his old group of friends, the Seven Sinners --- that he too should get his affairs in order. Realizing he is in grave danger but not knowing why, he plans a reunion party for the remaining Sinners at his family estate to lure the killer out while Veronica and Stoker investigate. As the guests arrive and settle in, the evening’s events turn deadly.
Berkley | 9780593545935

SMOKE KINGS by Jahmal Mayfield (Noir Thriller)
Paperback Original
Nate Evers, a young Black political activist, struggles with rage as his people are still being killed in the streets 62 years after Emmett Till. When his little cousin is murdered, Nate leads three grief-stricken friends on a mission of retribution --- kidnapping the descendants of long-ago perpetrators of hate crimes, confronting the targets with their racist lineages, and forcing them to pay reparations to a community fund. For three of the group members, the results mean justice; for Nate, it’s pure revenge. Not all targets go quietly into the night, though, and Nate and his friends' world spirals out of control when they confront the wrong man. Now the leader of a white supremacist group is hot on their tail, as is a jaded lawman with some disturbingly racist views of his own.
Melville House | 9781685891114

SOMEDAY, MAYBE by Onyi Nwabineli (Fiction)
Here are three things you should know about my husband: 1) He was the great love of my life despite his penchant for going incommunicado, 2) He was, as far as I and everyone else could tell, perfectly happy. Which is significant because… 3) On New Year’s Eve, he killed himself. And here is one thing you should know about me: I found him. Bonus fact: No. I am not okay. SOMEDAY, MAYBE is a debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband.
Graydon House | 9781525809828

A SPELL OF GOOD THINGS by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (Fiction)
Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of an ascendant politician. Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. Because his father has lost his job, Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, collecting newspapers, begging when he must and dreaming of a big future. When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola's and Eniola’s lives become intertwined. In A SPELL OF GOOD THINGS, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ shines her light on Nigeria, the gaping divide between the haves and the have-nots, and the shared humanity that lives in between.
Vintage | 9781984898883

THE TEACHER by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Eve has a good life. She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Last year, though, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye. Addie can't be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that's what everyone says. But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728296210

THE UNCHARTED FLIGHT OF OLIVIA WEST by Sara Ackerman (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1927. When Olivia "Livy" West learns of the Dole Air Race --- a high-stakes contest to be the first to make the 2,400-mile Pacific crossing from the West Coast to Hawaii --- she sets her sights on qualifying. But it soon becomes clear that only men will make the cut. Livy manages to be picked as a navigator for one of the pilots, before setting out on a harrowing journey that some will not survive. 1987. Wren Summers has inherited a remote piece of land on the Big Island with nothing on it but a dilapidated barn and an overgrown mac nut grove. She plans on selling it but is drawn in by the mysterious objects kept in the barn by her late great-uncle. Determined to find out what really happened all those years ago, Wren enlists the help of residents at a nearby retirement home to uncover Olivia’s story piece by piece.
Mira | 9780778369516

UP WITH THE SUN by Thomas Mallon (Crime Fiction)
Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the ’50s and ’60s --- until he wasn’t. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball’s historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980. Through the eyes of his occasional pianist and longtime acquaintance Matt Liannetto, a tenderhearted but wry observer often on the fringes of Broadway’s big moments, Kallman’s life and death come into appallingly sharp focus.
Vintage | 9780525565918

WALK THE BLUE LINE: Real Cops, True Stories by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, with Chris Mooney (Biography)
Police officers risk their lives every day to protect and serve our homes, families and communities. These men and women are our eyes. Our ears. Our protectors. Those who wear a badge, doing their best to help people. These cops serve their communities. They serve their country. They’re in the business of saving lives --- even at the risk of their own. These patrol officers and K9 handlers, sheriffs and detectives, reveal what it’s really like to wear the uniform, to carry the weight of the responsibility they’ve been given. This is a calling. This is the job.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710869

WE ARE TOO MANY: A Memoir [Kind of] by Hannah Pittard (Memoir)
In this wryly humorous and innovative look at a marriage gone wrong, Hannah Pittard recalls a decade’s worth of unforgettable conversations, beginning with the one in which she discovers her husband has been having sex with her charismatic best friend, Trish. These time-jumping exchanges are fast-paced, intimate and often jaw-dropping in their willingness to reveal the vulnerabilities inherent in any friendship or marriage. Blending fact and fiction, sometimes recreating exchanges with extreme accuracy and sometimes diving headlong into pure speculation, Pittard takes stock not only of her own past and future but also of the larger, more universal experiences they connect with --- from the depths of female rage to the heartbreaking ways we inevitably outgrow certain people.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250869067

WHAT IS MINE by Lyn Liao Butler (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Hope Chen and her husband are raising her nine-year-old nephew, Luca, in the wake of his troubled mother’s death. One day, Luca and his dog disappear without a trace. Guilt-ridden, fearing the worst but praying for the best, Hope finds her imagination running wild. Meanwhile, a woman with dangerous secrets to keep buried will do anything to protect her marriage. In one fleeting instant, it’s all within her reach. She finally can give her husband the one thing that will make him love her again. Hope will do anything to get Luca back. The other woman will do anything to stop Hope. As Hope’s search grows more desperate and the other woman’s plans more twisted, their lives collide in an explosive battle of wits. With a boy caught in the middle, nothing on this deadly path of love and revenge is what it seems.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662513008

WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE by Charlotte Stein (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
When grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into selling his memoirs, he knows he’s never going to be able to write them. So in walks curvy, cheery and cute as heck ghostwriter Mabel Willicker, who knows just how to sunshine and sass her way into getting every little detail out of Alfie. They banter and bicker their way to writing his life story, both of them sure they’ll never be anything other than at odds. But after their business arrangement is mistaken for a budding romance, the pair have to pretend to be an item for a public who’s ravenous for more of this Cinderella story. Or at least it feels like it’s pretend --- until each slow-burn step in their fake relationship sparks a heat neither can control. Is this sizzling chemistry just for show? Or something so real it might just give them their fairy tale ending?
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250867933

WHEN THE MOON TURNS BLUE by Pamela Terry (Fiction)
On the morning after Harry Cline’s funeral, a rare ice storm hits the town of Wesleyan, Georgia. The community wakes up to find its controversial statue of Confederate general Henry Benning destroyed --- and not by the weather. Half the town had wanted to remove the statue; the other half had wanted to preserve it. Now that the matter has been taken out of their hands, the town’s long-simmering tensions are laid bare. Without Harry beside her, Marietta is left to question many of her preconceived ideas about her friends and family. She longs to salvage these connections, but the world is changing and the divides can no longer be ignored.
Ballantine Books | 9780593359228

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