April 9, 2024

April 9, 2024

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of April 8th and April 15th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for April, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

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, April 10th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Preview: Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between April 9th and April 30th --- along with a few from the second half of May, plus June --- that she would like to get on your radar.

Wednesday, April 10th 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 Jo Piazza about her new novel, THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE.

Saturday, April 13th at 3pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's presents Timothy Schaffert as he discusses his new book, THE TITANIC SURVIVORS BOOK CLUB, with bestselling author, actress and award-winning documentarian Leslie Zemeckis.

Monday, April 15th at 7pm ET: Murder By The Book: Mary Kubica will talk to Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello about her new novel, SHE'S NOT SORRY, a chilling thriller about an ICU nurse who accidentally uncovers a patient’s frightening past.

Monday, April 15th at 8pm ET: Murder By The Book: Sara Paretsky will talk to Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello about PAY DIRT, the latest installment in her V.I. Warshawski series, in which the legendary detective uncovers a mystery with roots dating back to the Civil War.

Tuesday, April 16th at 8pm ET: Random House Publishing Group and PEN America: Random House Publishing Group and PEN America are proud to present internationally renowned writer, free speech advocate and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie as he discusses his new book, KNIFE: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, with Suleika Jaouad, the New York Times bestselling author of BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for April

On Sale the Week of April 8th in Hardcover

April 8th

THE SECRET LIVES OF BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann (Biography)
To be a bookseller or librarian, you have to play detective. Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. An advocate. A visionary. A person who creates “book joy” by pulling a book from a shelf, handing it to someone and saying, “You’ve got to read this. You’re going to love it.” Step inside THE SECRET LIVES OF BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS and enter a world where you can feed your curiosities, discover new voices, and find whatever you want or require. This place has the magic of rainbows and unicorns, but it's also a business. The book business.  Meet the smart and talented people who live between the pages --- and who can’t wait to help you find your next favorite book.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316567534

April 9th

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines (Oral History/Music)
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE is a groundbreaking oral history of one of the most enduring musical acts of all time. The material is comprised of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, THE LOVE YOU MAKE, which remains the biggest selling biography worldwide about the Beatles. Only a small portion of the contents of these transcribed interviews have ever been revealed. Among other sought-after information, the interviews contribute definitively as to why the Beatles broke up.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250285010

A BETTER WORLD by Sarah Langan (Psychological Thriller)
You’ll be safe here. That’s what the tour guide tells the Farmer-Bowens when they visit Plymouth Valley, a walled-off company town with clean air, pantries that never go empty, and blue-ribbon schools. On a very trial basis, the company offers to hire Linda Farmer’s husband, Russell, a numbers genius, and relocate her whole family to this bucolic paradise for the .0001 percent. Though Linda will have to sacrifice her medical career back home, the family jumps at the opportunity. But fitting in takes work. The pampered locals distrust outsiders, snubbing Linda, Russell and their teen twins. And the residents fervently adhere to a group of customs and beliefs called Hollow. But what exactly is Hollow? The more Linda learns, the more frightened she becomes. Should the Farmer-Bowens be fighting to stay, or fighting to get out?
Atria Books | 9781982191061

DAUGHTER OF MINE by Megan Miranda (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When Hazel Sharp, the daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town --- and people --- she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel is not the only relic of the past to return. A drought has descended on the region. And as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781668010440

THE FAMILIAR by Leigh Bardugo (Historical Fantasy)
In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers that the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to improve the family's social position. What begins as simple amusement for the nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. The king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen --- and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain his favor. As Luzia's notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath.
Flatiron Books | 9781250884251

THE FELLOWSHIP OF PUZZLEMAKERS by Samuel Burr (Fiction)
Clayton Stumper might be in his 20s, but he dresses like your grandpa and fusses like your aunt. Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by a group of eccentric enigmatologists and now finds himself among the last survivors of a fading institution. When the esteemed crossword compiler and main maternal presence in Clayton’s life, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle on him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for life beyond the walls of the commune. So begins Clay’s quest to uncover the secrets surrounding his birth, secrets that will change Clay --- and the Fellowship --- forever.
Doubleday | 9780593470091

FI: A Memoir of My Son by Alexandra Fuller (Memoir)
It’s midsummer in Wyoming, and Alexandra Fuller is barely hanging on. Grieving her father and pining for her home country of Zimbabwe, reeling from a midlife breakup, freshly sober, and piecing her way uncertainly through a volatile new relationship with a younger woman, Alexandra vows to get herself back on even keel. And then, her 21-year-old son, Fi, dies suddenly in his sleep. Alexandra is painfully aware that she cannot succumb and abandon her two surviving daughters as her mother before her had done. From a sheep wagon deep in the mountains of Wyoming to a grief sanctuary in New Mexico to a silent meditation retreat in Alberta, Canada, Alexandra journeys up and down the spine of the Rocky Mountains in an attempt to find how to grieve herself whole.
Grove Press | 9780802161048

THE GARDEN by Clare Beams (Historical Fiction/Gothic Horror)
In 1948, Irene Willard, who’s had five previous miscarriages in a quest to give her beloved husband the child he desperately desires and is now pregnant again, comes to an isolated house-cum-hospital in the Berkshires, run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure for her condition. Warily, she enlists herself in the efforts of the Doctors Hall to “rectify the maternal environment,” both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she also discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own powers and pulls. As the doctors’ plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves --- and must face the incalculable risks associated with such incalculable rewards.
Doubleday | 9780385548182

THE GATHERING by C. J. Tudor (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
In a small Alaska town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. The inhabitants of Deadhart know who’s responsible: a member of the Colony, an ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement deep in the woods. Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing --- and authorize a cull. Determined to find the truth, she enlists the help of a former Deadhart sheriff, Jenson Tucker, whose investigation into the previous murder almost cost him his life. Since then, Tucker has become a recluse. But he knows the Colony better than almost anyone. As the pair delve into the town’s history, they uncover secrets darker than they could have imagined. And then another body is found.
Ballantine Books | 9780593356593

THE HOUSE OF BROKEN BRICKS by Fiona Williams (Fiction)
Tess is a Londoner whose relationship with Richard transports her from a Jamaican diaspora in the city to the English countryside, where predatory birds hover over fields, buses run twice a day, neighbors barter honey for cider, and no one looks like her. As Tess and Richard settle in, the dramatic arrival of their fraternal twins --- one who presents as Black and the other as white --- recasts the family dynamic, stirring up complicated feelings and questions of belonging. Tess yearns for the comforting chaos of life as it once was, instead of Max and Sonny tracking dirt through the kitchen where cooking Caribbean food becomes her sole comfort. And Richard obsesses over getting his crops planted rather than deal with the conversation he cannot bear to have.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250896766

IAN FLEMING: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (Biography)
Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote. Ian's childhood with his gifted brother, Peter, and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be “the complete man,” and he would strive for the means to achieve this “completeness” all his life. Nicholas Shakespeare’s talent for uncovering material that casts new light on his subjects is fully evident here. His unprecedented access to the Fleming archive and his nose for a story make this a fresh and eye-opening picture of the man and his famous creation.
Harper | 9780063012240

THE LIMITS by Nell Freudenberger (Fiction)
From Mo’orea, a tiny volcanic island off the coast of Tahiti, a French biologist obsessed with saving Polynesia’s imperiled coral reefs sends her 15-year-old daughter, Pia, to live with her ex-husband, Stephen, and his new wife, Kate, in New York. A schoolteacher, Kate struggles to connect with a teenager whose capacity for destruction seems exceeded only by her privilege. Meanwhile, one of her 16-year-old students is already caring for a toddler full time. Athyna’s love for her nephew, Marcus, is a burden that becomes heavier as she struggles to finish her senior year online. Just as her fear of what is waiting for her outside her Staten Island community feels insupportable, an incident at home makes her desperate to leave. When their lives collide, Pia and Athyna spiral toward parallel but inescapably different tragedies.
Knopf | 9780593448885

MANIA by Lionel Shriver (Dystopian Fiction)
In an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity movement takes hold. Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence. Because everyone is equally smart, discrimination against purportedly dumb people is "the last great civil rights fight." A college English instructor, Pearson Converse rejected her restrictive Jehovah’s Witness upbringing as a teenager. Made impotent in the university classroom, she’s also enraged by the crushing of her exceptionally bright children’s spirits in primary school. Fortunately, she enjoys the confidence of a best friend with whom she can speak frankly about her socially unacceptable contempt for the MP movement. Until one day the political chasm between the two women becomes uncrossable, and a lifelong relationship implodes.
Harper | 9780063345393

SOMEHOW: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
In SOMEHOW, Anne Lamott explores the transformative power that love has in our lives: how it surprises us, forces us to confront uncomfortable truths, reminds us of our humanity and guides us forward. “Love just won't be pinned down,” she says. “It is in our very atmosphere” and lies at the heart of who we are. We are, she says, creatures of love. In each chapter, Lamott refracts all the colors of the spectrum. She explores the unexpected love for a partner later in life. The bruised (and bruising) love for a child who disappoints, even frightens. The sustaining love among a group of sinners, for a community in transition, in the wider world. The lessons she underscores are that love enlightens as it educates, comforts as it energizes, sustains as it surprises.
Riverhead Books | 9780593714416

TOXIC PREY: A Lucas and Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford (Mystery/Thriller)
Gaia is dying. That, at least, is what Dr. Lionel Scott believes. A renowned expert in tropical and infectious diseases, Scott has witnessed the devastating impact of illness and turmoil at critical scale. Society as it exists is untenable and is the direct link to Earth’s death spiral; population levels are out of control, and people have allowed disarray and disorder to run rampant. While most are concerned about deadly disease, Scott knows that it is truly humanity itself that will destroy Gaia. When he disappears without a trace, Letty Davenport is tasked with tracking down any and all leads. As the web around Scott becomes more tangled, Letty calls in her father, Lucas, to help her lead a group of specialists to find Scott as soon as possible. It quickly becomes a race to find him before the virus he created becomes the perfect weapon.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593714492

THE TWILIGHT GARDEN by Sara Nisha Adams (Fiction)
In a small pocket of London, between the houses of Number 77 and Number 79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was once a beautiful thing, but now it’s overgrown and neglected. Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at Number 79 likes it --- anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago --- vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. The seed of an idea is planted. Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.
William Morrow | 9780063025325

THE WIDE WIDE SEA: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (History)
On July 12, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship, the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Hampton Sides’ bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s.
Doubleday | 9780385544764

THE WIDOW SPY by Megan Campisi (Historical Thriller)
Kate Warner is the country’s first female detective, a Pinkerton agent and a Union spy. It’s August 1861, and her latest assignment could finally end the bloody war and bring the fractured United States together again. All she has to do is win the trust of her captive: Confederate spy and socialite Rose Greenhow. But with Rose well aware of Kate’s working-class background and belief in abolitionism, it seems an impossible task. Worst, Kate has secrets that make her vulnerable, such as her forbidden love affair with a colleague. With time running out, Kate faces not only the moral and political divides between herself and Rose but also the ones she made in her own heart and life. Can she make the difficult decision over which divides are worth crossing? Or will she fail the most important assignment of her career?
Atria Books | 9781668024850

THE WIVES: A Memoir by Simone Gorrindo (Memoir)
When her new husband joins an elite Army unit, Simone Gorrindo is uprooted from New York City and dropped into Columbus, Georgia --- a town so foreign she might as well have landed on the moon. With her husband frequently deployed, she is left to find her place in this new world, alone --- until she meets the wives. Gorrindo gives us an intimate look into the inner lives of a remarkable group of women and a tender, unflinching portrait of a marriage.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982178499

On Sale the Week of April 8th in Paperback

April 9th

CALLING UKRAINE by Johannes Lichtman (Fiction)
John Turner receives a call from an old college friend who makes him an odd job offer: move to Ukraine to teach customer service agents at a startup how to sound American. In Ukraine, John understands very little --- the language and social customs are impenetrable to him. At work, his employees are fluent in English but have difficulty grasping the concept of “small talk.” And although he told himself not to get romantically involved while abroad, he can’t help but be increasingly drawn to one of his colleagues. Most distressing, however, is the fact that John can hear his neighbor beating his wife. Desperate to help, John decides to offer the neighbor 100,000 hryvnias to stop. It’s a plan born out of the best intentions, but one that has disastrous repercussions that no amount of money or altruism can resolve.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781982156831

THE CLOCK STRUCK MURDER: A Lost in Paris Mystery by Betty Webb (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
Expat Zoe Barlow has settled well into her artist's life among the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris. When a too-tipsy guest at her weekly poker game breaks her favorite clock, she's off to a Montparnasse flea market to bargain with the vendor Laurette for a replacement. What Zoe didn't bargain for was the lost Chagall painting that's been used like a rag to wrap her purchases! Eager to learn if Laurette has more Chagalls lying about like trash, Zoe sets off to track her down at her storage shed. With no Laurette in sight, Zoe snoops around and indeed finds several additional Chagalls --- and then she finds Laurette herself, dead beneath a scrap heap. After returning the paintings to a grateful Marc Chagall, Zoe begins her own investigation. Did the stolen paintings play any part in the brutal killing? Or was it a crime of passion?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728269931

THE EAST INDIAN by Brinda Charry (Historical Fiction)
Meet Tony: insatiably curious and deeply compassionate with a unique perspective on every scene he encounters. Kidnapped and transported to the New World after traveling from the British East India Company’s outpost on the Coromandel Coast to the teeming streets of London, young Tony finds himself in Jamestown, Virginia, where he and his fellow indentured servants must work the tobacco plantations. Orphaned and afraid, Tony initially longs for home. But as he adjusts to his new environment, finding companionship and even love, he can envision a life for himself after servitude. His dream: to become a medicine man, or a physician’s assistant, an expert on roots and herbs, a dispenser of healing compounds.
Scribner | 9781668004531

THE FIRST LADY OF WORLD WAR II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back by Shannon McKenna Schmidt (History)
On August 27, 1943, news broke in the United States that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was on the other side of the world. A closely guarded secret, she had left San Francisco aboard a military transport plane headed for the South Pacific to support the troops on the frontlines of World War II. Americans had believed she was secluded at home. As Allied forces battled the Japanese for control of the region, Eleanor was there on the frontlines, spending five weeks traveling, on a mission as First Lady of the United States to experience what our servicemen were experiencing...and report back home.
Sourcebooks | 9781728297224

FOR YOU AND ONLY YOU: A Joe Goldberg Novel by Caroline Kepnes (Psychological Thriller)
Joe Goldberg is ready for a change. Instead of selling books, he’s writing them. And he’s off to a good start. Glenn Shoddy, an acclaimed literary author, recognizes Joe’s genius and invites him to join a tight-knit writing fellowship at Harvard. Unfortunately, his already-published, already-distinguished peers all seem to be cut from the same elitist cloth. Thankfully, Wonder Parish enters the picture. They have so much in common. No college degrees, no pretensions, no stories from prep school or grad school. Just a love for literature. If only Wonder could commit herself to the writing life, they could be those rare literary soulmates who never fall prey to their demons. Wonder has a tendency to love, to covet, but Joe is a believer in the rule of fiction: If you want to write a book, you have to kill your darlings.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593133828

GOING ZERO by Anthony McCarten (Thriller/Adventure)
Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a groundbreaking piece of spyware. FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work? For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named Kaitlyn Day, the stakes are far higher than money, and her reasons for entering the test more personal than anyone imagines. When the timer hits zero, there will be only one winner.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063227064

HOW TO END A LOVE STORY by Yulin Kuang (Romance)
Paperback Original
Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the 13 years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever. Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels. Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well-liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects. But when secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. Yet the key to making peace with their past --- and themselves --- just might lie in holding on to each other in the present.
Avon | 9780063310681

A KILLING ON THE HILL by Robert Dugoni (Historical Thriller)
Paperback Original
Seattle, 1933. The city is in the grips of the Great Depression, Prohibition and vice. Cutting his teeth on a small-time beat, hungry and ambitious young reporter William “Shoe” Shumacher gets a tip that could change his career. There’s been a murder at a social club on Profanity Hill --- an underworld magnet for vice crimes only a privileged few can afford. The story is going to be front-page news, and Shoe is the first reporter on the scene. The victim, Frankie Ray, is a former prizefighter. His accused killer? Club owner and mobster George Miller, who claims he pulled the trigger in self-defense. Soon the whole town is talking, and Shoe’s first homicide is fast becoming the Trial of the Century. The more Shoe digs, the more he’s convinced that nothing is as it seems.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662500251

LeBRON by Jeff Benedict (Sports/Biography)
LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of the 21st century, and he’s in the conversation with Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time. The reigning king of the game and the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, LeBron wears the crown like he was born with it. Yet his ascent has been anything but effortless and predetermined. What makes LeBron’s story so compelling is how he won his destiny despite overwhelmingly long odds, in a drama worthy of a Dickens novel. LeBRON tells the full, riveting saga of how a child adrift found the will to become a titan. Jeff Benedict paints a vivid picture of LeBron’s epic origin story, showing the gradual rise of a star who, surrounded by a tight-knit group of teenage friends and adult mentors, accelerated into a speeding comet during high school.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982110901

THE LIE MAKER by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son. These are some of the last words that Jack Givins’ father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives as best they could. Years later, Jack is a talented but struggling author. So when the U.S. Marshals approach him with a lucrative opportunity, he’s in no position to turn them down. They’re recruiting writers like Jack to create false histories for people in witness protection. Jack soon realizes this may be a chance to find his dad. But Jack’s father hasn’t made contact with his handlers recently, and they have no idea where he is. He could be in serious danger, and Jack may be the only one who can find him.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063276277

LOW COUNTRY: A Southern Memoir by J. Nicole Jones (Memoir)
J. Nicole Jones is the only daughter of a prominent South Carolina family, a family that grew rich building the hotels and seafood restaurants that draw tourists to Myrtle Beach. But at home, she is surrounded by violence and capriciousness: a grandfather who beats his wife, a barman father who dreams of being a country music star. At one time, Jones' parents can barely afford groceries; at another, her volatile grandfather presents her with a fur coat. After a girlhood of extreme wealth and deep debt, of ghosts and folklore, of cruel men and unwanted spectacle, Jones finds herself face to face with an explosive possibility concerning her long-abused grandmother that she can neither speak nor shake.
Catapult ‎| 9781646221233

OLD FLAME by Molly Prentiss (Fiction)
Emily writes for women’s catalogs for a living, but she’d rather be writing books. She has a handsome photographer boyfriend, but she actively wonders how and when they will eventually hurt each other. Her best work friend Megan is her lifeline, until Megan is abruptly laid off. When her world is further upended by an unplanned pregnancy, Emily is forced to make tough decisions that will change her life forever. What will she sacrifice from her old life to make room for a new one? What fires will she be forced to extinguish, and which will keep burning?
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781501121593

THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLES IGNATIUS SANCHO by Paterson Joseph (Historical Fiction)
It’s 1746, and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man. Charles Ignatius Sancho must dodge slave catchers and worse, and his main ally --- a kindly duke who taught him to write --- is dying. Sancho is desperate and utterly alone. So how does the same Charles Ignatius Sancho meet the king, write and play highly acclaimed music, become the first Black person to vote in Britain, and lead the fight to end slavery? Through every moment of this rich, exuberant tale, Sancho forges ahead to see how much he can achieve in one short life: “I had little right to live, born on a slave ship where my parents both died. But I survived, and indeed, you might say I did more.”
Holt Paperbacks | ‎9781250880390

THIS FRESH EXISTENCE: Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda by Cindy Rasicot (Biography)
Paperback Original
Bhikkhuni Dhammananda defied convention to become the first woman fully ordained in the Thai Theravada Buddhist tradition. Dubbed “Rebel Monk” by the Thai press, she faced enormous opposition from the media, the public and senior orthodox Thai monks. She has given a fresh existence to the ancient tradition. American author Cindy Rasicot became her student and disciple in 2005. This compelling book tells the story of Venerable Dhammananda’s remarkable path from TV personality, author, academic, wife and mother to ordained bhikkhuni. Cindy Rasicot writes beautifully of their relationship and shares Bhikkhuni Dhammananda’s gentle wisdom and direct insights about how to live a more powerful and compassionate life.
Windhorse Publications | 9781915342317

TO THE UTTERMOST ENDS OF THE EARTH: The Epic Hunt for the South's Most Feared Ship --- and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War by Phil Keith with Tom Clavin (History)
On June 19, 1864, just off the coast of France, one of the most dramatic naval battles in history took place. On a clear day with windswept skies, the dreaded Confederate raider Alabama faced the Union warship Kearsarge in an all-or-nothing fight to the finish, the outcome of which would effectively end the threat of the Confederacy on the high seas. Award-winning and bestselling historians Phil Keith and Tom Clavin introduce some of the crucial but historically overlooked players in the deciding clash. Readers will sail aboard the Kearsarge as Winslow embarks for Europe with a set of simple orders from the Secretary of the Navy: "Travel to the uttermost ends of the earth, if necessary, to find and destroy the Alabama."
Hanover Square Press | 9781335449498

THE WHOLE TRUTH: A D.I. Adam Fawley Thriller by Cara Hunter (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
When DI Adam Fawley is assigned a sexual assault case filed by an Oxford student against a tenured professor, he expects the facts to match up with the far too many previous reports he’s investigated time and again. But neither he nor anyone on his team imagined the victim would turn out to be a male rugby player accusing one of the university’s most respected female professors. As the detectives try to unravel the truth behind the he said/she said crime, another threat arises --- someone with a personal grudge against Fawley.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063260979

On Sale the Week of April 15th in Hardcover

April 16th

A CALAMITY OF SOULS by David Baldacci (Historical/Legal Thriller)
Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538765029

CLOSE TO DEATH by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery)
Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate. It is the perfect idyll, until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, gaggle of shrieking children, and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. The Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close and quickly offend every last one of the neighbors. When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator they can call to solve the case. Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?
Harper | 9780063305649

DID I EVER TELL YOU?: A Memoir by Genevieve Kingston (Memoir)
Genevieve (Gwen) Kingston was just 11 years old when her mother passed away, leaving behind a chest filled with gifts and letters to celebrate the milestones of Gwen’s life and each of her birthdays until age 30. When DID I EVER TELL YOU? opens, just three packages remain: engagement, marriage and first baby. Tracing Gwen’s coming-of-age, the book reveals a treasure hunt, with each gift and letter unveiling more about her mother, her family and --- ultimately --- herself. Like CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner and THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch, DID I EVER TELL YOU? is a riveting book filled with unexpected twists and powerful life lessons. Through her mother’s fierce and courageous love, Gwen was granted the tools not only to move through grief but to cherish life.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781668006290

EVEREST, INC.: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World by Will Cockrell (Travel History/Adventure)
Anyone who has read Jon Krakauer’s INTO THIN AIR or has seen a recent photo of climbers standing in line to get to the top of Everest may think they have the mountain pretty well figured out. It’s an extreme landscape where bad weather and incredible altitude can occasionally kill, but more so an overcrowded, trashed-out recreation destination where rich clients pad their egos --- and social media feeds --- while exploiting local Sherpas. There’s some truth to these clichés, but they’re a sliver of the story. Unlike any book to date, EVEREST, INC. gets to the heart of the mountain through the definitive story of its greatest invention: the Himalayan guiding industry. It all began in the 1980s with a few boot-strapping entrepreneurs who paired raw courage and naked ambition with a new style of expedition planning.
Gallery Books | 9781982190453

THE EVOLUTION OF ANNABEL CRAIG by Lisa Grunwald (Historical Fiction)
Annabel Hayes --- born, baptized and orphaned in the sleepy conservative town of Dayton, Tennessee --- is thrilled to find herself falling quickly and deeply in love with George Craig, a sophisticated attorney newly arrived from Knoxville. But before the end of their first year of marriage, their lives are beset by losses. The strain on their relationship is only intensified when John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution at the local high school. Foreshadowing today’s culture wars, the trial against Scopes is a spectacle unlike any the country has seen. When George joins the team defending Scopes, Annabel begins to question both her beliefs and her vows. As the ongoing trial divides neighbor against neighbor, it also divides the Craigs in unexpected ways.
Random House | 9780593596159

FELINE FATALE: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown (Mystery)
Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen’s dear friend, Ned Tucker, is in the House of Delegates, advocating for a bill to improve road clearing during bad weather. Tensions are high between political parties, and no one can agree on anything for long enough to get something done. The bill’s chief detractor is Amanda Fields, a former newscaster turned delegate whose flair for the dramatic has earned her a formidable reputation --- and made her more than a few enemies. Amanda’s claws-out approach to politics might have some of her colleagues wishing she was dead, but the statehouse is rocked when one of the young pages who assists the delegates dies under mysterious circumstances. Could his death be related to the political infighting? Or is something even more sinister threatening the lives of Virginia’s finest representatives?
Bantam | 9780593357637

HONEY by Victor Lodato (Fiction)
As a rebellious teenager, Honey managed to escape her father’s circle of influence and reinvent herself in a world of art and beauty, working for a high-end auction house in Los Angeles. Now in her twilight years, she decides to return home and unexpectedly falls in love. But in her family, nothing has changed. When her grandnephew Michael bursts into her life in what appears to be a drug-fueled frenzy, and her Lexus gets jacked, it’s hard to keep minding her own business. As old cruelties begin to resurface, Honey is no longer sure what she really wants --- to forgive or to avenge.
Harper | 9780063309616

INDIAN BURIAL GROUND by Nick Medina (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on --- just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her --- things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down. But the facts about Roddy’s death just don’t add up, and Noemi isn’t the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands. After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers. But as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder if it might be best for some secrets to remain buried.
Berkley | 9780593546888

IT HAD TO BE YOU: An Under Suspicion Novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke (Mystery/Thriller)
The two identical brothers seemed perfect in every way --- handsome, intelligent, popular --- until a shocking summer night when one brother killed his parents in cold blood while the other brother had an iron-clad alibi. But which twin was where during the murders? And is it possible the two of them planned the perfect crime together? Years later, the twins are long estranged, each of them claiming to be convinced that the other is responsible for the death of their parents. Married now with children of their own, they may finally be ready to clear one name at the expense of the other and turn to Laurie Moran and her team to reinvestigate their parents’ murder. But as the Under Suspicion crew gets closer to the truth, the danger that was assumed to be left in the past finds its way into the present.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982132576

KNIFE: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (Memoir)
Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. KNIFE is a gripping, intimate and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art --- and finding the strength to stand up again.
Random House | 9780593730249

MY BELOVED MONSTER: Masha, the Half-wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me by Caleb Carr (Memoir)
Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him in both the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow she chose Caleb as her savior. For the 17 years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316503600

NEGATIVE SPACE by Gillian Linden (Fiction)
NEGATIVE SPACE follows a week in the life of an English teacher at a New York private school. At home, her two increasingly restless children ask constant questions about mortality and find hidden wisdom in the cartoons they watch on television. Her husband tends to his plants and offers occasional counsel between Zoom calls to Hong Kong and Australia. And at school, as she navigates the currents between wealthy, increasingly disconnected students and bewildered faculty, she accidentally witnesses an ambiguous, possibly inappropriate interaction between a teacher and a student. She feels compelled to say something, but how can she be sure of what she saw?
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324065548

NEVER SAY YOU'VE HAD A LUCKY LIFE: Especially If You've Had a Lucky Life by Joseph Epstein (Autobiography)
An autobiography usually requires a justification. The great autobiographies --- those by Benvenuto Cellini, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Brooks Adams --- were justified by their authors living in interesting times, harboring radically new ideas or participating in great events. Joseph Epstein qualifies on none of these counts. His life has been quiet, lucky in numerous ways and far from dramatic. But it also has been emblematic of the great changes in our country since World War II. NEVER SAY YOU'VE HAD A LUCKY LIFE is an intimate look at one life steeped in radical change: from a traditionally moral culture to a therapeutic one, from an era when the extended family was strong to its current diminished status, from print to digital life featuring the war of pixel on print, and on.
Free Press | 9781668009635

NOTHING BUT THE BONES by Brian Panowich (Thriller)
In McFalls County, local crime boss Gareth Burroughs runs everything on the mountain. And Nelson “Nails” McKenna has been his enforcer since he was a teenager, though his heart is not really in the dirty work. Then one night in a local roadhouse, Nails goes too far, defending a woman, and even Burroughs’ reach can’t get him out of this one. With a dead body and countless witnesses, Nails and the woman become fugitives on the run, and unlikely partners. But on the road to Jacksonville, where a possible escape awaits, there’s more than one interested party on the pair’s trail, and the glimpse they had of getting away scot-free suddenly seems elusive. In the end, Nails must make one final stand for his freedom --- or pay with both of their lives.
Minotaur Books | 9781250835246

PAY DIRT: A V.I. Warshawski Novel by Sara Paretsky (Mystery)
V.I. Warshawski’s friends send her to Kansas for a weekend of college basketball where Angela, one of her protégées, is playing. Sabrina, one of Angela’s roommates, disappears, and V.I. agrees to try to find her. Finding a missing person in a city where she knows few people and doesn’t have her trusted contacts is hard, but not as hard as the brutally negative reaction to the detective from some of the locals. When V.I. finds Sabrina close to death in a remote house, she lands herself in the FBI’s crosshairs and faces a violent online backlash. The men running the county’s opioid distribution are also not happy. Discovering a dead body in the same house a few days later, V.I. is pitched headlong into a local land-use battle with roots going back to the Civil War.
William Morrow | 9780063010932

AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Memoir/History)
Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for 42 years --- and married to American history even longer. In his 20s, Dick was one of the brilliant young men of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. In his 30s, he both named and helped design Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was a speechwriter and close advisor to Robert Kennedy. Doris Kearns was a 24-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. She worked directly for Lyndon Johnson and later assisted on his memoir. The Goodwins’ last great adventure involved finally opening the more than 300 boxes of letters, diaries, documents and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than 50 years. They soon realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s, illuminating public and private moments of a decade when individuals were powered by the conviction that they could make a difference.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982108663

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID by K. T. Nguyen (Psychological Thriller)
Annie “Anh Le” Shaw grew up poor but seems to have it all now: a dream career, a stunning home, and a devoted husband and daughter. When Annie’s mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie’s carefully curated life begins to unravel. Her obsessive-compulsive disorder comes roaring back. But this time, the disturbing fixations swirling around in Annie’s brain might actually be coming true. A prominent art patron disappears, and the investigation zeroes in on Annie. Spiraling with self-doubt, she distances herself from her family and friends, only to wake up in a hotel room --- naked, next to a lifeless body. The police have more questions, but with her mind increasingly fractured, Annie doesn’t have answers. All she knows is this: She will do anything to protect her daughter --- even if it means losing herself.
Dutton | 9780593473856

On Sale the Week of April 15th in Paperback

April 15th

TITANIC: Sinking the Myths by D. E. Bristow, with a new preface by Ryan Katzenbach (History)
30th Anniversary Edition
In over 100 years, there have been literally thousands of books written on the catastrophic maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. Yet questions still persist about that fateful night. Thirty years ago, in this book’s first edition, Diana Bristow unraveled the myths and lies to give the original, no-stone-unturned account of the events that led up to --- and followed --- the sinking of the Titanic. Bristow goes right to the heart and source of the campaign of deception that served only one purpose: to protect J.P. Morgan, the White Star Line and all their investors from astronomical liability and financial ruin if the captain, crew or management were found negligent in the events that led to the sinking of the Titanic. Bristow’s long-sought-after book, out of print for 30 years, is now presented here in an updated edition.
Genius Book Publishing | 9781958727263

April 16th

ANNE BOLEYN & ELIZABETH I: The Mother and Daughter Who Forever Changed British History by Tracy Borman (History)
The future Queen Elizabeth was not yet three when her mother, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded on May 19, 1536, on Henry’s order, incensed that she had not given him a son and tired of her contentious nature. Elizabeth had been raised away from court, rarely even seeing Anne. After her death, Henry tried in every way to erase Anne’s presence and memory. At that moment in history, few could have predicted that mother and daughter would each leave enduring, and interlocked, legacies. Yet as Tracy Borman reveals in this first-ever joint portrait, both women broke the mold for British queens and for women in general at the time.
Grove Press | 9780802163318

THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE by Michelle Gable (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
It’s 1961, and Margo Hightower has just been hired as assistant to photographer Slim Aarons, who is famous for his vibrant pictures of high society, royalty and Hollywood stars. From the bright beaches of Acapulco to glitzy parties in New York, Margo is thrown headfirst into the glamorous jet-set world she so covets, observing its ways from behind the camera as Slim’s sidekick. But when they land in Palm Beach, a scene with few rules and many riches, the lines between work and play begin to blur. As Margo becomes swept up in the city’s social circle --- and into a friendship with heiress and rising fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer --- the golden life seems increasingly in reach. Until she finds herself entangled in a complicated web of loyalties and secrets that could bring it all crashing down.
Graydon House | 9781525805035

BITING THE HAND: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America by Julia Lee (Memoir)
When Julia Lee was 15, her hometown went up in smoke during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The daughter of Korean immigrant store owners in a predominantly Black neighborhood, Julia was taught to be grateful for the privilege afforded to her. However, the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, following the murder of Latasha Harlins by a Korean shopkeeper, forced Julia to question her racial identity and complicity. She was neither Black nor white. So who was she? This question would follow Julia for years to come. It was only when she began a PhD in English that she found answers --- not in the Brontës or Austen, as Julia had planned, but rather in the brilliant prose of writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250861573

BLANK PAGES: And Other Stories by Bernard MacLaverty (Fiction/Short Stories)
Tinged with melancholy but rooted in resiliency, the exquisite stories in Bernard MacLaverty’s BLANK PAGES display the perseverance of the human spirit. In “A Love Picture,” a middle-aged woman, already no stranger to loss, consults a World War II newsreel to determine the fate of her son. “Blackthorns” tells of a poor, out-of-work Catholic man who falls gravely ill in the sectarian Northern Ireland of 1942 but is brought back from the brink by an unlikely savior. The harrowing but transcendent “The End of Days” imagines life in another pandemic as artist Egon Schiele and his wife, both stricken with the Spanish flu, spend their final days together. And in the poignant title story, an elderly writer takes stock of what remains after losing his life partner.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324074656

A BOOK OF DAYS by Patti Smith (Memoir)
In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message “Hello Everybody!” Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone, including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. Followers felt an immediate affinity with these miniature windows into Smith’s world. Over time, a coherent story of a life devoted to art took shape, and more than a million followers responded to Smith’s unique aesthetic in images that chart her passions, devotions, obsessions and whims. In wide-ranging yet intimate daily notations, Smith shares dispatches from her travels around the world.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593730386

BROWN BOY: A Memoir by Omer Aziz (Memoir)
In a tough neighborhood on the outskirts of Toronto, Omer Aziz struggles to find his place as a first-generation Pakistani Muslim boy. He fears the violence and despair of the world around him, and sees a dangerous path ahead. In his senior year of high school, Omer quickly begins to realize that education can open up the wider world. He searches for community and identity, asking questions of himself and those he encounters, and soon finds himself in difficult situations. Yet the more books Omer reads and the more he moves through elite worlds, his feelings of shame and powerlessness only grow stronger, and clear answers recede further away. In BROWN BOY, Aziz wrestles with the contradiction of feeling like an Other and his desire to belong to a Western world that never quite accepts him.
Scribner | 9781982136321

CHRISTA COMES OUT OF HER SHELL by Abbi Waxman (Fiction/Humor)
Paperback Original
After a tumultuous childhood, Christa Liddle has hidden away, both figuratively and literally. Happily studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Christa finds her tranquil existence thrown into chaos when her once-famous father --- long thought dead after a plane crash --- turns out to be alive, well and ready to make amends. The world goes wild, fascinated by this real-life saga, pinning Christa and her family under the spotlight. As if that weren’t enough, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense physical attraction neither was expecting and both want to act on…if they can just keep a lid on it. When her father’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she will lose herself, her potential relationship, and any chance of making it back to her snails before they forget her completely.
Berkley | 9780593198780

THE CRADLE OF ICE by James Rollins (Fantasy/Adventure)
To stop the coming apocalypse, a fellowship was formed. A soldier, a thief, a lost prince and a young girl bonded by fate and looming disaster. Each step along this path has changed the party, forging deep alliances and greater enmities. All the while, hostile forces have hunted them, fearing what they might unleash. Armies wage war around them. For each step has come with a cost --- in blood, in loss, in heartbreak. Now they must split, traveling into a vast region of ice and to a sprawling capital of the world they’ve only known in stories. Time is running out, and only the truth will save us all.
Tor Books | 9781250766762

DOWNFALL by Mark Rubinstein (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When Rick Shepherd, a physician, approaches his office on a busy Manhattan street, he finds police cars, an ambulance and crime scene technicians. He soon learns that a passerby was shot three times in the back, murdered at the front door to Rick’s office. Later that evening, while watching the local news, Rick and his fiancee, Jackie, see a photo of the victim --- to their horror, the deceased looks identical to Rick. Two nights later, Rick’s father is shot and killed in the exact same way. Detectives Art Nager and Liz Callaghan launch an investigation. There are no clues leading to the perpetrator. Even more ominously, someone has been calling Rick and Jackie’s apartment and hanging up. Whoever is targeting Rick must have murdered his father, and they now have Rick in their crosshairs.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096084

THE FINDERS KEEPERS LIBRARY by Annie Rains (Romance)
Paperback Original
A gardener blessed with a green thumb, Savannah Collins heads to Bloom, North Carolina, to spend the summer with her beloved Aunt Eleanor, a retired librarian. Her aunt shares her love of literature with the Finders Keepers Library, located in her beautiful garden, where anyone can stop by to pick a book or leave a book. When a sudden summer storm destroys the library and many of the roses, it will take a village to get everything ready for the garden wedding that is planned there in just three weeks. As the entire town joins in to make the necessary repairs, Savannah bonds with their neighbor Evan Sanders over the books that Eleanor has handpicked for each of them, helping them both find healing and self-discovery.
Forever | 9781538710111

FIRE RUSH by Jacqueline Crooks (Fiction)
Yamaye goes raving with her friends at The Crypt, an underground dub reggae club. Raised by her distant father after her mother’s disappearance when she was a girl, Yamaye craves the oblivion of sound --- a chance to escape into the rhythms of those smoke-filled nights, to discover who she really is in the dance-hall darkness. When Yamaye meets Moose, a soulful carpenter who shares her Jamaican heritage, a path toward a different kind of future seems to open. But then Babylon rushes in. In a devastating cascade of violence that pits state power against her loved ones and her community, Yamaye loses everything. Friendless and adrift, she embarks on a dramatic journey of transformation that ultimately takes her to Jamaica, where past and present collide with explosive consequences.
Penguin Books | 9780593300558

A FONDNESS FOR TRUTH: A Polizei Bern Novel by Kim Hays (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Andi Eberhart is riding her bicycle home on an icy winter night when she is killed in a hit-and-run. Her devastated partner, Nisha, is convinced the death was no accident. Andi had been receiving homophobic hate mail for several years, and the letters grew uglier after the couple’s baby was born. Bern homicide detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to investigate what happened to Andi. As she pieces together the details of Andi and Nisha’s lives, her assistant Renzo Donatelli looks into Andi’s job advising young men drafted into Switzerland’s civilian service. Giuliana and Renzo are again tempted to become more than just friendly colleagues. As both detectives dig into Andi’s life, one thing becomes clear: Andi’s friends and family may have loved her for her honesty, but her outspokenness threatened others --- perhaps enough to get rid of her.
Seventh Street Books | 9781645060833

THE FOURTH ENEMY: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
Working his way up at the London law firm fford Croft and Gibson, Daniel Pitt is named junior counsel on a fraud case with the potential to make or break his --- and the firm’s --- reputation. The trouble is that Malcolm Vayne, the man on trial, has deep pockets and even deeper connections. Vayne’s philanthropic efforts paint him a hero in the eyes of the public, but Daniel’s friend Ian, a police officer, has evidence to suggest otherwise. Nervously working alongside Gideon Hunter, the new head of his firm, Daniel must find a way to prove that Vayne is guilty. Vayne’s trial reveals his deep political ambitions, and it heats up further when a crucial witness is found dead. When another witness is kidnapped, Daniel must set out on a rescue mission that puts his life --- and the case against Vayne --- in peril.
Ballantine Books | 9780593359143

I USED TO LIVE HERE ONCE: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys by Miranda Seymour (Biography)
Jean Rhys is one of the most compelling writers of the 20th century. Memories of her Caribbean girlhood haunt the four short and piercingly brilliant novels that Rhys wrote during her extraordinary years as an exile in 1920s Paris and later in England, a body of fiction --- above all, the extraordinary Wide Sargasso Sea --- that has a passionate following today. And yet her own colorful life, including her early years on the Caribbean island of Dominica, remains too little explored, until now. In I USED TO LIVE HERE ONCE, Miranda Seymour sheds new light on the artist whose proud and fiercely solitary life profoundly informed her writing.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324074595

A KIND OF MADNESS: Stories by Uche Okonkwo (Fiction/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
A teenage girl from a poor family is dazzled by her rich, vivacious friend. But as the friend’s behavior grows unstable and dangerous, she must decide whether to cover for her or risk telling the truth to get her the help she needs. A young woman and her mother bask in the envy of their neighbors when the woman receives an offer of marriage from the family of a doctor living in Belgium --- though when the offer fails to materialize, that envy threatens to turn vicious. And a lonely daughter finds herself wandering a village in eastern Nigeria in an ill-fated quest, struggling to come to terms with her mother’s mental illness. Set in contemporary Nigeria, the 10 stories in A KIND OF MADNESS unravel the tensions between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, best friends, siblings and more.
Tin House Books | 9781959030386

THE LIGHT PIRATE by Lily Brooks-Dalton (Fiction)
As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on Florida’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before. As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. She loses family, gains community, and seeks adventure, love and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538708286

THE LIGHT WE CARRY: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama (Memoir/Personal Growth)
There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In THE LIGHT WE CARRY, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much? Obama believes that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress.
Crown | 9780593237489

THE MITFORD SECRET: A Mitford Murders Mystery by Jessica Fellowes (Historical Mystery)
It’s 1941, and the Mitford household is splintered by the vicissitudes of war. To bring the clan together, Deborah invites them to Chatsworth for Christmas, along with a selection of society’s most impressive and glamorous guests, as well as old family friend Louisa Cannon, a private detective. A psychic arrives one night, and to liven things up Deborah agrees she may host a séance. But entertainment turns to dark mystery as the psychic reveals that a maid was murdered in this very same house --- and she can prove it. Louisa steps forward to try to solve the cold case. But with a house full of people who want nothing more than to bury their secrets, will she be able to unmask the murderer? And how deep does the truth lie?
Minotaur Books | 9781250322906

THE MURDER INN by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Thriller)
Paperback Original
When ex-cop Bill Robinson takes over The Inn by the Sea, all he wants is a quiet escape from the city. But when a crime boss moves into town and begins terrorizing Bill's friends, he can't just sit back and watch. It's not long before local criminals are turning up dead and The Inn comes under attack. With the help of The Inn's fearless residents, Bill must do everything he can to defend his town, his chosen family and his home.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710944

NORMAL RULES DON’T APPLY: Stories by Kate Atkinson (Fiction/Short Stories)
In NORMAL RULES DON’T APPLY, nothing is quite as it seems. We meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; a lost man who bets on a horse that may --- or may not --- have spoken to him. Everything that readers love about the novels of Kate Atkinson is here: the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations of human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop.
Vintage | 9780593469880

ONE OF US KNOWS by Alyssa Cole (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island. Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers --- including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect. Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island --- and their own past.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063114951

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB by J. Ryan Stradal (Fiction)
Mariel Prager’s husband, Ned, is having an identity crisis; her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day; and her mother, Florence, is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed. Ned is also an heir --- to a chain of home-style diners --- and knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance.
Penguin Books | 9781984881090

SILVER ALERT by Lee Smith (Fiction)
Herb’s charmed life with his dear wife, Susan, in their Key West house is coming undone. Susan now needs constant care, and Herb is in denial about his own ailing health. The one bright spot is the arrival of an endlessly optimistic manicurist calling herself Renee. But then Herb and Susan’s adult children arrive to stage an intervention with their stubborn, independent father. As a consequence, Renee’s gig with Susan --- and her grand plans for her own life --- start to unravel as well. Herb isn't ready to let go of all that he has ever had, and it turns out that Renee is not the happy, uncomplicated girl she pretends to be. She is not even Renee; she is really Dee Dee, and she, too, has reasons of her own to hit the road. So when Herb suggests one last joy ride in his Porsche with Dee Dee riding shotgun, they take off for parts north, setting off a Silver Alert.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755809

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS: A DCI Banks Novel by Peter Robinson
(Mystery/Thriller)
In November 1980, Nick Hartley returns home from a university lecture to find his house crawling with police. His ex-girlfriend, Alice Poole, has been found murdered, and her new boyfriend is missing. Nick is the prime suspect. The case quickly goes cold, but Nick cannot let it go. He embarks on a career in investigative journalism, determined to find Alice’s murderer --- but his obsession leads him down a dangerous path. Decades later, in November 2019, an archaeologist unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more contemporary than the Roman remains she is seeking. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate, but there is little to be gleaned from the remains themselves. As the two cases unfurl, the investigations twist and turn to an explosive conclusion.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062995001

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 | 9780316493758

WACO: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage by Jeff Guinn (True Crime)
Jeff Guinn has penned the definitive account of the disastrous siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. For the first time in 30 years, more than a dozen former ATF agents who participated in the initial February 28, 1993, raid speak on the record about the poor decisions of their commanders that led to this deadly confrontation. Revelations in this book include why the FBI chose to end the siege with the use of CS gas; how both ATF and FBI officials tried and failed to cover up their agencies’ mistakes; where David Koresh plagiarized his infamous prophecies; and direct links between the Branch Davidian tragedy and the modern militia movement in America. Notorious conspiracist Alex Jones is a part of the Waco story. So much is new, and stunning.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982186111

THE WEEDS by Katy Simpson Smith (Fiction)
A Mississippi woman pushes through the ruin of the Roman Colosseum, searching for plants. Crawling along the stones, she wonders how she has landed here, a reluctant botanist amid a snarl of tourists. In 1854, a woman pushes through the jungle of the Roman Colosseum, searching for plants. As punishment for her misbehavior, she has been indentured to the English botanist Richard Deakin, for whom she will compile a flora. If only the woman she loves weren’t on a boat, with a husband. Through a list of seemingly minor plants and their uses, these women calculate intangible threats: a changing climate, the cost of knowledge, and the ways repeated violence can upend women’s lives. They must forge their own small acts of defiance and slip through whatever cracks they find.
Picador | 9781250321770

WHAT REMAINS by Wendy Walker (Psychological Thriller)
Detective Elise Sutton is a forensics expert with a knack for solving cold cases and a deep knowledge of the criminal mind. She prides herself on being rational and in control, until a crisis at a department store leaves her steeped in guilt and self-doubt about whether or not she did the right thing to save a man's life. Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn't feel like one. She soon grows numb, even to her husband and daughters, as she sets out to find the one man who might know the truth. When she finds him --- or did he find her? --- their connection sets off a terrifying game of cat and mouse, threatening Elise and the people she loves most.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798212876926

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