November 5, 2024

November 5, 2024

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of November 4th and November 11th 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 November, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

Carol Fitzgerald's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Paula Hawkins. Her new novel, THE BLUE HOUR, is November's "Good Morning America" Book Club pick and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection.

Paula discusses her inspiration for the book’s setting, which came to her when she was on vacation, as well as her love of art. The characters and the way they move in and out of each other’s lives is key to the storylines, and she explains how their roles changed as the book went on. Paula also shares where the title came from and what she loves about the cover.

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

Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads. We also feature a number of other prominent selections, including the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, Oprah’s Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

Below is a preview of November's "Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks." For the complete Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, as well as additional links pertaining to this month's selections, please click here.

Indie Next
#1 Pick: LOST AND LASSOED: A Rebel Blue Ranch Novel by Lyla Sage
THE BLUE HOUR by Paula Hawkins
PONY CONFIDENTIAL by Christina Lynch
BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN by M. L. Wang
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER by Susan Rieger

LibraryReads
Top Pick: LOST AND LASSOED: A Rebel Blue Ranch Novel by Lyla Sage
THE SONGBIRD & THE HEART OF STONE by Carissa Broadbent
ELEANORE OF AVIGNON by Elizabeth DeLozier
THE CO-OP by Tarah DeWitt
THE LAKE OF LOST GIRLS by Katherine Greene

Barnes & Noble Book Club
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER by Susan Rieger

"Good Morning America" Book Club
THE BLUE HOUR by Paula Hawkins

PBS Books Readers Club
LEONARD DA VINCI by Walter Isaacson

"Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club
THIS MOTHERLESS LAND by Nikki May

Reese's Book Club
WE WILL BE JAGUARS: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson

Target Book Club
A COUNCIL OF DOLLS by Mona Susan Power

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, November 6th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with J.T. Ellison about her latest novel, A VERY BAD THING. This taut thriller is about one author at the pinnacle of her career whose past threatens to destroy everything she has --- and everyone she knows.

Monday, November 11th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome multi-award-winning and USA Today bestselling crime writer Lou Berney for a live virtual discussion of DOUBLE BARREL BLUFF as part of their Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. Lou will be in conversation with the award-winning author of ALL HER LITTLE SECRETS, Wanda M. Morris.

Tuesday, November 12th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Louise Erdrich for a live virtual event to discuss THE MIGHTY RED, October's B&N Book Club pick. Louise will be in conversation with Lexie Smyth, B&N's Fiction Category Manager, and Jenna Seery, B&N's Associate Producer of Digital Content.

Tuesday, November 12th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle and Heather Gudenkauf will talk to their fellow Killer Author Club member, Kaira Rouda, about her new thriller, WHAT THE NANNY SAW, a completely gripping and unputdownable read with a killer twist that will have you turning pages deep into the night.

On Sale the Week of November 4th in Hardcover

November 5th

THE AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO MURDER by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White (Mystery)
There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead --- under bizarre circumstances --- in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems that the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for literary Americans, finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists. Why did these authors really come to Castle Kinloch?
William Morrow | 9780063259867

BEFORE WE FORGET KINDNESS by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Fiction/Magical Realism)
In this fifth book in the sensational, cozy Before the Coffee Gets Cold series translated from Japanese, the mysterious café where customers arrive hoping to travel back in time welcomes four new guests: the father who could not allow his daughter to get married, a woman who couldn't give Valentine's Day chocolates to her loved one, a boy who wants to show his smile to his divorced parents, and a wife holding a child with no name. They must follow the café's strict rules, however, and come back to the present before their coffee goes cold. Another moving and heartwarming tale from Toshikazu Kawaguchi, in BEFORE WE FORGET KINDNESS our new visitors wish to go back into their past to move on with their present, finding closure and comfort so they can embark on a beautiful future.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335915283

THE BOUNDARIES WE CROSS by Brad Parks (Domestic Thriller)
Charles Bliss, a teacher at an elite Connecticut boarding school, has been accused of engaging in a romantic relationship with a student. The student behind the accusation, Hayley Goodloe, is the daughter of a state senator, the granddaughter of an ex-governor, and an heiress to a massive fortune. But Charles has long prided himself on keeping proper boundaries with his students. He insists he would never cross the line. Or would he? Hayley’s diary makes it clear she had strong feelings for her teacher. Was it just an unrequited schoolgirl crush? Or was it something more? When Hayley disappears under suspicious circumstances, a daunting pile of evidence points to Charles as the chief suspect. Charles swears he’s being framed. And it soon becomes apparent there’s only one way he can clear his name. Find her.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096244

CARSON THE MAGNIFICENT by Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas (Biography)
In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson. Shortly after Carson’s death in 2005, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography. He toiled on the book for nearly a decade before a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatments halted his progress. Yet the hundreds of pages Zehme managed to complete are astounding both for the caliber of their writing and how they illuminate one of the most inscrutable figures in entertainment history. In one passage, Zehme notes that when asked by an interviewer for the secret to his success, Carson replied simply, “Be yourself and tell the truth.” Completed with help from journalist and Zehme’s former research assistant Mike Thomas, CARSON THE MAGNIFICENT offers just that: an honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451645279

ELEANORE OF AVIGNON by Elizabeth DeLozier (Historical Fiction)
Provence, 1347. Eleanore (Elea) Blanchet is a young midwife and herbalist with remarkable skills. In a chance encounter, she meets Guigo de Chauliac, the enigmatic personal physician to the powerful Pope Clement, and strikes a deal with him to take her on as his apprentice. Under Chauliac’s tutelage, she hones her skills as a healer. Then, two pieces of earth-shattering news: the Black Death has made landfall in Europe, and the disgraced Queen Joanna is coming to Avignon to stand trial for her husband’s murder. She is pregnant and in need of a midwife, a role only Elea can fill. The queen’s childbirth approaches as the plague spreads like wildfire, leaving half the city dead in its wake. The people of Avignon grow desperate for a scapegoat, and a group of religious heretics launch a witch hunt, one that could cost Elea everything.
Dutton | 9780593475034

FLINT KILL CREEK: Stories of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates (Mystery & Thriller/Short Stories)
These new, recent and reformulated stories by Joyce Carol Oates, collected here for the first time, showcase a wide range of crime fiction and psychological suspense. A young, insecure woman finds her relationship changing as she grows more and more dependent on a man who likes to take her on long walks beside a dangerously roaring creek. Another woman, nervous around men, not quite knowing how to act when paid a compliment, becomes flustered when a doctor suggests they go out for coffee, or possibly a drink. She finally decides that she will join him when he suggests they meet at his home. A man is so forgetful that his wife panics and yells into his phone, asking where their daughter has gone. A woman resents that a colleague has achieved greater success and thinks she ought to do something about it.
Mysterious Press | 9781613165577

AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE by Phillip Margolin (Legal Thriller)
Charlie Webb is a third-rate lawyer who graduated from a third-rate law school and has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court-appointed cases. In AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE, he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested --- again --- for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar; while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe. When this minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie is faced with the most important and deadliest case of his life.
Minotaur Books | 9781250885821

THE LAKE OF LOST GIRLS by Katherine Greene (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
It’s 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina. But freshman Jessica Fadley is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears. Twenty-four years later, Jessica’s sister, Lindsey, is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery. In the present, one sister searches to untangle a complicated web of lies. In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639109081

LINCOLN VS. DAVIS: The War of the Presidents by Nigel Hamilton (Biography)
Of all the books written on Abraham Lincoln, there has been one surprising gap: the drama of how the “railsplitter” from Illinois grew into his critical role as U.S. commander-in-chief and managed to outwit his formidable opponent, Jefferson Davis, in what remains history's only military faceoff between rival American presidents. Confronted with the most violent and challenging war ever seen on American soil, Lincoln seemed ill-suited to the task. But in a Shakespearean twist, he summoned the courage to make a climactic decision: issuing as a “military necessity” a proclamation freeing the 3.5 million enslaved Americans without whom the South could not feed or fund their armed insurrection. The new war policy doomed the rebellion, and the fate of President Davis was sealed.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316564632

THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS R.E.M.: A Biography by Peter Ames Carlin
(Music/Biography)
In the spring of 1980, an unexpected group of musical eccentrics came together to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. Within a few short years, they had taken over the world. Raw, outrageous and expressive, R.E.M.’s distinctive musical flair was unmatched, and a string of mega-successes solidified them as generational spokesmen. In the tumultuous transition between the wide-open ’80s and the anxiety of the early ’90s, R.E.M. challenged the corporate and social order, chasing a vision and cultivating a magnetic, transgressive sound. In this rich, intimate biography, critically acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin looks beyond the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll to open a window into the fascinating lives of four college friends who stuck together at any cost, until the end.
Doubleday | 9780385546942

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AT DUNDER MIFFLIN written by Brian Baumgartner and Ben Silverman, illustrated by Maël Gourmelen (Fiction/Humor)
It’s Christmas Eve at Scranton’s finest paper company, and Michael Scott is nowhere to be found. As the office dozes off after their raucous holiday party, two mysterious visitors sneak in: a Santa peddling holiday cheer and that’s what she said jokes, and his beet-loving, dutiful, right-hand elf. Armed with absurd gifts for the staff, tacky decorations for the office, and absolutely nothing good for Toby, the two prepare to give Dunder Mifflin a holiday they’ll never forget. A hilarious twist on a Christmas classic, THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AT DUNDER MIFFLIN is a rollicking, festive and heartwarming jaunt through everyone’s favorite office, the perfect holiday treat for any fan of the show.
Mariner Books | 9780063372726

PONY CONFIDENTIAL by Christina Lynch (Mystery)
Pony has been passed from owner to owner for longer than he can remember. Fed up, he busts out and goes on a cross-country mission to reunite with Penny, the little girl who he was separated from and hasn’t seen in years. Penny, now an adult, is living an ordinary life when she gets a knock on her door and finds herself in handcuffs, accused of murder and whisked back to the place she grew up. Her only comfort when the past comes back to haunt her is the memory of her precious, rebellious pony. Hearing of Penny’s fate, Pony knows that Penny is no murderer. So, as smart and devious as he is cute, the pony must use his hard-won knowledge of human weakness and cruelty to try to clear Penny’s name and find the real killer.
Berkley | 9780593640364

THE ROAD OF BONES: The Ashen Series, Book One by Demi Winters
(Fantasy/Romance)
Silla Nordvig is running for her life. The Queen of Íseldur has sent warriors to bring Silla to Sunnavík, where death awaits her. When her father is killed, his last words set Silla on a perilous quest: travel the treacherous Road of Bones --- a thousand-mile stretch haunted by warbands, creatures of darkness and a mysterious murderer --- and go to Kopa, where a shield-house awaits her. After barely surviving the first stretch of road, a desperate Silla sneaks into a supply wagon belonging to the notorious Bloodaxe Crew. To make it to Kopa, she must win over Axe Eyes, the brooding leader of the Crew, while avoiding the Wolf, his distractingly handsome right-hand man. All the while, the queen's ruthless assassin hunts Silla obsessively. Will Silla make it safely to Kopa? Or will she fall prey to the perils of the Road of Bones?
Delacorte Press | 9780593975619

WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird by Sy Montgomery (Nature)
For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality and connects with Sy in her own way. In WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable creatures. Only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run and peck; relationships are important to them, and the average chicken can recognize more than a hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least 24 distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all of this, but for Sy what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about 20 percent more chickens on earth than people.
Atria Books | 9781668047361

On Sale the Week of November 4th in Paperback

November 5th

THE ATLAS MANEUVER: A Cotton Malone Novel by Steve Berry (Thriller)
In the waning months of World War II, Japan hid vast quantities of gold and other stolen valuables in boobytrapped underground caches all across the Philippines. By 1947, some of that loot was recovered, not by treasure hunters, but by the United States government, which told no one about the find. Instead, those assets were stamped classified, shipped to Europe, and secretly assimilated into something called the Black Eagle Trust. Retired Justice Department Operative Cotton Malone is in Switzerland doing a favor for a friend. But what was supposed to be a simple operation turns violent, and Cotton is thrust into a war between the world’s oldest bank and the CIA. He quickly discovers that everything hinges on a woman from his past, who suddenly reappears harboring a host of explosive secrets.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538771716

THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE WILD by Peggy Townsend (Thriller)
It’s summer in Alaska, and the light surrounding the shipping-container-turned-storage shed where Liv Russo is being held prisoner is fuzzy and gray. Around her is thick forest and jagged mountains. In front of her, across a clearing, is a low-slung cabin with a single window that spills a wash of yellow light onto bare ground. Illuminated in that light is the father of her child, a man she once loved. A man who is now her jailor. Liv vows to do anything to escape. Carrying her own secrets and a fierce need to protect her young son, Liv must navigate a new world where extreme weather, starvation and dangerous wildlife are not the only threats she faces. With winter's arrival imminent, she knows she must reckon with her past and the choices that brought her to the unforgiving Alaskan landscape if she is ever going to make it out alive.
Berkley | 9780593638101

A COUNCIL OF DOLLS by Mona Susan Power (Historical Fiction/Magical Realism)
Sissy, born 1961: Sissy’s relationship with her beautiful and volatile mother is difficult, even dangerous. But her life is also filled with beautiful things, including a new Christmas present, a doll called Ethel. Ethel whispers advice and kindness in Sissy’s ear and, in one especially terrifying moment, maybe even saves Sissy’s life. Lillian, born 1925: In a time of terrible change, Lillian clings to her sister, Blanche, and her doll, Mae. When the sisters are forced to attend an “Indian school” far from their home, Blanche refuses to be cowed by the school’s abusive nuns. But when tragedy strikes the sisters, Mae finds her way to defend the girls. Cora, born 1888: Cora isn’t afraid of the white men who remove her to a school across the country to be “civilized.” When teachers burn her beloved buckskin and beaded doll, Winona, Cora discovers that the spirit of Winona may not be entirely lost.
Mariner Books | 9780063281103

DEAD WEST by Matt Goldman (Mystery)
Nils Shapiro accepts what appears to be an easy, lucrative job: find out if Beverly Mayer’s grandson is foolishly throwing away his trust fund in Hollywood, especially now, in the wake of his fiancée’s tragic death. However, that easy job becomes much more complicated once Nils arrives in Los Angeles. He quickly suspects that Ebben Mayer’s fiancée was murdered, and that Ebben himself may have been the target. As Nils moves into Ebben’s inner circle, he discovers that everyone in Ebben’s professional life seems to have dubious motives at best. With Nils' friend Jameson White, who has come to Los Angeles to deal with demons of his own, acting as Ebben’s bodyguard, Nils sets out to find a killer before it’s too late.
Forge Books | 9781250323699

DOUBLE BARREL BLUFF by Lou Berney (Thriller)
Paperback Original
During his years as a wheelman for the Armenian mob in Los Angeles, Shake Bouchon didn’t think of himself as the settling-down type. But now he’s happily married to Gina, the love of his life --- and former adversary --- in Indiana, of all places. The great thing about Bloomington, for two people with checkered pasts, is that everyone is nice and no one knows them. Until the day a brutal Armenian thug shows up in his backyard. He demands that Shake help him find his missing mob boss, Alexandra “Lexy” Ilandryan, who also happens to be Shake’s ex-girlfriend. Shake reluctantly agrees to travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where Lexy was last seen. Once there, he finds himself tangled in an underworld of Cambodian gangsters, mob politics and opportunistic expats, where the stakes aren’t clear and everyone is looking to score.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062292483

THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon (Historical Mystery)
Maine, 1789: The Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice. Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine the cause of death. As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, every murder and debacle that unfolds in the town of Hallowell. In that diary she also documented the details of an alleged rape that occurred four months earlier. Now, one of the men accused of that heinous attack has been found dead in the ice. While Martha is certain she knows what happened the night of the assault, she suspects that the two crimes are linked. Over the course of one long, hard winter, Martha’s diary lands at the center of the scandal and threatens to tear both her family and her community apart.
Vintage | 9780593312070

THE HEIRESS by Rachel Hawkins (Gothic Thriller)
When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But in the aftermath of Ruby’s death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money --- and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Camden and his wife, Jules, back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable. And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Camden and Jules, questions about the infamous heiress come to light.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250834706

THE HURRICANE WARS by Thea Guanzon (Fantasy/Romance)
All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, she found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows. Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty shadow magic. He discovers the greatest threat yet in Talasyn. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen. But an even greater danger is coming, and the strange magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it.
Harper Voyager | 9780063277250

INDEPENDENCE SQUARE: Arkady Renko in Ukraine by Martin Cruz Smith (Thriller)
It’s June 2021, and Arkady Renko knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson’s disease. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case. An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina's roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady’s new romance.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982188313

KILL YOURS, KILL MINE by Katherine Kovacic (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Mia's grief counseling practice, The Pleiades, is named for the seven sisters from Greek mythology who were the companions of the Goddess of the Hunt --- and who, in some stories, die of grief or are killed to be saved from attackers. Mia has been gathering broken women together for a radical form of group therapy --- five women crippled with grief by the murders of their sisters and seething with rage that the partners who killed them all walk free. She just needs one more. When Mia meets Naomi, she knows she has found the perfect candidate, but Naomi is resistant. She only needs to meet the others before she realizes that they, too, are consumed with desire for hands-on revenge. Under Mia's guidance, the women devise a plan to heal themselves. The premise is satisfyingly simple: I'll kill yours if you kill mine.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464219689

THE LIES WE LEAVE BEHIND by Noelle Salazar (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Somewhere in the Pacific, 1943. Kate Campbell is a nurse who bravely flies back and forth from the front to rescue wounded soldiers, amid long days, harsh conditions and often dangerous weather. Driven by a deep personal need to help in the war effort, she is conflicted when an injury results in her reassignment to the relative comfort of the English countryside. Love has never been part of her plan, but despite herself, she falls for an officer with three bullet wounds, startling blue eyes and a wicked sense of humor. For the first time, Kate sees a future far from the horrors of war and hate. But before she can pursue it, a secret from her past calls her to duty, and she'll have to travel back into danger one more time to rescue a part of herself she'd left behind. But will she make it back? And will that future still be waiting for her if she does?
Mira | 9780778369615

LOST AND LASSOED: A Rebel Blue Ranch Novel by Lyla Sage (Romance/Western)
Paperback Original
Teddy Andersen is used to being a leader, but now she feels like she’s getting left behind, wondering if life in the small town she loves is enough for her anymore. Gus Ryder doesn’t know what’s harder: taking care of his family’s 8,000-acre ranch, or parenting his spunky six-year-old daughter, who is staying with him for the summer. When his workload starts to overwhelm him, he has to admit that he can’t manage everything on his own. He needs help. His little sister’s best friend, the woman he can’t stand, is not who he had in mind. But when no one else can step in, Teddy is the only option he has. Tempers flare, tension builds, and for the first time ever, Gus and Teddy start to see each other in a different light. As new feelings start to simmer below the surface, they must decide if they should act on them.
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593732458

QUARRY’S RETURN by Max Allan Collins (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Paperback Original
After nearly 50 years in the killing business, the hitman known as Quarry was enjoying a comfortable retirement --- until the grown daughter he only recently met mysteriously went missing. Now it’s up to the old man to show he hasn’t lost a step and, with the help of a femme fatale from his past, prove he’s as ruthless, deadly and unstoppable as any man half his age.
Hard Case Crime | 9781803368764

RAISED BY WOLVES by James Patterson and Emily Raymond (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Two teens appear out of nowhere, ransacking a small-town grocery store and attacking the police officers who come to investigate. Their clothes are torn and filthy, their hands and bare feet callused, and they have fangs. They’re sister and brother, alone against the world. Where did they come from? Raised by wolves, they say. Kai and Holo are taken in by the police chief and his wife, and they begin adjusting to life in a small town, attending school and going on dates. But humans, they find, are the most vicious animals. And the mystery of their upbringing brings dark and powerful forces to Kokanee Creek, tearing the town apart and threatening the lives of everyone they love. How will the wolves survive? How will Kai and Holo?
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538767016

THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES by Julie Leong (Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes, knowing from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences. Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a "knead" for adventure, and --- of course --- a slightly magical cat. Tao starts down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past close in --- and she’ll have to decide whether or not to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.
Ace | 9780593815915

THE VULNERABLES by Sigrid Nunez (Fiction)
Elegy plus comedy is the only way to express how we live in the world today, says a character in Sigrid Nunez’s ninth novel. THE VULNERABLES offers a meditation on our contemporary era, as a solitary female narrator asks what it means to be alive at this complex moment in history and considers how our present reality affects the way a person looks back on her past. Humor, to be sure, is a priceless refuge. Equally vital is connection with others, who here include an adrift member of Gen Z and a spirited parrot named Eureka. This book reveals what happens when strangers are willing to open their hearts to each other and how far even small acts of caring can go to ease another’s distress.
Riverhead Books | 9780593715529

WHEN I’M DEAD: A Black Harbor Novel by Hannah Morrissey (Mystery/Thriller)
On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter’s best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery --- her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But not without a trace. A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions…details that threaten to tear them apart. Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect.
Minotaur Books | 9781250357564

WHERE THE DEAD WAIT by Ally Wilkes (Supernatural Thriller/Gothic Horror)
William Day should be an acclaimed Arctic explorer. But after a failed expedition, in which his remaining men only survived by eating their dead comrades, he returned in disgrace. Thirteen years later, his second-in-command, Jesse Stevens, has gone missing in the same frozen waters. Perhaps this is Day’s chance to restore his tarnished reputation by bringing Stevens --- the man who’s haunted his whole life --- back home. But when the rescue mission becomes an uncanny journey into his past, Day must face up to the things he’s done. Aboard ship, Day also must contend with unwanted passengers. Following a trail of cryptic messages, gaunt bodies and old bones, their search becomes more and more unnerving, as it becomes clear that the restless dead are never far behind.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982182830

On Sale the Week of November 11th in Hardcover

November 12th

ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND TREACHERY by Celeste Connally (Historical Mystery)
London may be cheering the news of Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo, but Lady Petra Forsyth has little to celebrate after discovering that the death of her viscount fiancé three years earlier was murder. The man responsible is her secret paramour, Duncan Shawcross, yet the scoundrel has disappeared, leaving only a confusing riddle about long-forgotten memories in his wake. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte has tasked Petra with attending an event at the Asylum for Female Orphans and making inquiries surrounding the death of the orphanage’s matron. There may be a link between the matron’s death and a group of radicals with ties to the aristocracy. Then Petra overhears a nefarious conversation with two other men about a plot to topple the monarchy, set to take place during three days of celebrations currently gripping London.
Minotaur Books | 9781250867605

THE ANCIENT EIGHT: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today by John Feinstein (Sports)
The history of the Ivy League dates back to 1869 when Princeton played the first college football game against Rutgers. THE ANCIENT EIGHT explores Ivy League football today. To play in the NFL, one must maintain the highest academic standards and be a great football player. The rivalries are as intense, as are the strict rules --- but there is also a genuine purity in the Ivy League. Through intimate interviews with players, coaches and key figures, John Feinstein uncovers the unique culture that defines football on the Ivy League gridiron, offering unparalleled access to the remarkable coaching staffs and student-athletes who balance their academic ambitions with their passion for the game.
Hachette Books | 9780306833908

APRIL STORM by Leila Meacham (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Kathryn Walker enjoys an enviable life. Her husband is an accomplished doctor, her children are bright and successful, and she devotes herself to charity work that uplifts her suburban Colorado community. Settling into a new year, her life couldn’t be better. Until April. For Kathryn, April has always rained trouble --- but this time may be even stormier than the fraught past she’s trying to overcome. Already distraught over the child she miscarried in this same cursed month many years ago, the emotionally fragile woman isn’t ready to consider the overwhelming evidence that someone may be trying to take her husband --- and her life.
Harper | 9780063323100

BIG BREATH IN by John Straley (Mystery)
Diagnosed with terminal cancer, retired marine biologist Delphine is on the brink of throwing in the towel. She has outlived her PI husband and worries that she’s become a burden to her son and his growing family. One night, while contemplating how to go on, she witnesses a violent argument between a man and his girlfriend. When Delphine discovers that the woman has gone missing along with her young child, she embarks on a quest to find them. What begins as a chance encounter balloons into a rescue mission across the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, Delphine encounters the dregs of humanity --- grappling with schemers, kidnappers and murderers --- as well as its joys. With the help of a few friends, a retired PI and a queer biker gang, she is determined to see her mission through...knowing full well that it may be her last.
Soho Crime | 9781641296540

CLIVE CUSSLER DESOLATION CODE: A Novel from the NUMA Files by Graham Brown (Thriller/Adventure)
When Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala investigate a mass stranding of aquatic life in the Indian Ocean, they accidentally uncover a much deeper mystery. A strange figure soon steals NUMA’s findings, forcing a high-speed chase. Someone really didn’t want them examining those dead whales. A cryptic text through the NUMA satellite network makes things still stranger. These odd phrases and numbers look like NUMA codes. But who could be tantalizing the crew with such specific knowledge of their tech? Are they being helped by an old friend, or lured into a trap by a traitor who knows a little too much about NUMA’s inner workings? Kurt, Joe and even Max, the agency’s supercomputer, will have to investigate like never before as they decrypt data, infiltrate a cult of cloned men, and prepare for a battle on two very different planes: one physical, one digital.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593719206

THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS by Mary E. Pearson (Fantasy/Romance)
After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an “aunt” she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet --- and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm --- the one he is from. Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with the fae leader, Tyghan. But what she doesn't know is that he's the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father --- dead or alive.
Flatiron Books | 9781250331977

DEADLY ANIMALS by Marie Tierney (Mystery/Thriller)
Ava Bonney is a compassionate and studious 14-year-old girl with a dark secret: she has an obsessive interest in the macabre. She is fascinated by the rate at which dead animals decompose. The highway she lives by regularly offers up gifts of roadkill, and in the dead of night she loves nothing more than to pull her latest discovery into her roadside den and record her findings. One night, she stumbles across the body of her classmate. Fearing that her secret ritual could be revealed, she makes an anonymous call to the police. But when Detective Seth Delahaye is given the case, Ava won’t step back --- not while teenagers continue to go missing. Racing alongside the police or against them, Ava is determined to figure out who is hunting her classmates before she becomes the next prey.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250357595

DIDION & BABITZ by Lili Anolik (Biography)
Eve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin and filth of her apartment was a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. Inside was a lost world that centered on a two-story rental in a down-at-the-heel section of Hollywood: 7406 Franklin Avenue, a combination salon-hotbed-living end where writers and artists mixed with movie stars, rock ’n’ rollers and drug trash. 7406 Franklin Avenue was the making of one great American writer: Joan Didion. It also was the breaking and then the remaking --- and thus the true making --- of another great American writer: Eve Babitz. Didion and Babitz formed a complicated alliance, a friendship that went bad, amity turning to enmity. Didion, in spite of her confessional style, is so little known or understood. She’s remained opaque, elusive. Until now.
Scribner | 9781668065488

HER LOTUS YEAR: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson by Paul French (History)
Before she was the Duchess of Windsor, Bessie Wallis Warfield was Mrs. Wallis Spencer, wife of Earl “Win” Spencer, a US Navy aviator. From humble beginnings in Baltimore, she rose to marry a man who gave up his throne for her. But what made Wallis Spencer, Navy Wife, the woman who could become the Duchess of Windsor? The answers lie in her one-year sojourn in China. In her memoirs, Wallis described her time in China as her “Lotus Year,” referring to Homer’s Lotus Eaters, a group living in a state of dreamy forgetfulness, never to return home. Though faced with challenges, Wallis came to appreciate traditional Chinese aesthetics. China molded her in terms of her style and provided her with friendships that lasted a lifetime. But that “Lotus Year” also would be used later to damn her in the eyes of the British Establishment.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250287472

I'M LAUGHING BECAUSE I'M CRYING: A Memoir by Youngmi Mayer (Memoir/Humor)
“Do you know what happens if you laugh while crying? Hair grows out of your butthole.” It was a constant truism that Youngmi Mayer’s mother would say threateningly after she would make her daughter laugh while crying. Her mother used it to cheer her up in moments when she could tell Youngmi was overtaken with grief. The humorous saying would never fail to lighten the mood, causing both daughter and mother to laugh and cry at the same time. Her mother had learned this trick from her mother, and her mother had learned this from her mother before her: it also had helped an endless string of her family laugh through suffering. In I'M LAUGHING BECAUSE I'M CRYING, Youngmi jokes through the retelling of her childhood as an offbeat biracial kid in Saipan, a place next to a place that Americans might know.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316569231

INGENIOUS: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist by Richard Munson (Biography)
Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic achievements than his scientific creativity. In INGENIOUS, Richard Munson recovers this vital part of Franklin’s story, reveals his modern relevance, and offers a compelling portrait of a shrewd experimenter, clever innovator and visionary physicist whose fame opened doors to negotiate French support and funding for American independence. Munson’s riveting narrative explores how science underpins Franklin’s entire story and argues that his political life cannot be understood without giving proper credit to his scientific accomplishments.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393882230

LAZARUS MAN by Richard Price (Fiction)
East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city’s rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day’s end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing. In LAZARUS MAN, Richard Price, one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America, creates intertwining portraits of a group of compelling and singular characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374168155

THE LEGACY OF ARNISTON HOUSE by T. L. Huchu (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
Ropa Moyo is a wannabe magician, can speak to the dead, and officially has given up being an intern. Leaving Scottish magic behind, she now works for the English Sorcerer Royal. But just as she adjusts to working for the English, an old enemy reveals a devastating secret about her Gran, and Ropa’s world falls apart. Outraged, she rushes home but finds her grandmother dead --- murdered --- with no killer in sight. What’s more, she’s the prime suspect. In her quest to find the true murderer, Ropa becomes caught in the dark tendrils of a cult, hell-bent on resurrecting an ancient power. She must use her wits and magic, and call in all favors, to stop the ritual and clear her name.
Tor Books | 9781250883094

THE MAGNIFICENT RUINS by Nayantara Roy (Fiction)
Lila De is on the verge of a breakthrough in her career at a prestigious New York publishing house. But when she gets a call from her mother in India, informing her that she’s inherited her family’s sprawling estate, she must confront the legacy of an extended family that she thought she left behind 16 years ago. Returning to Kolkata reunites Lila with her mother after a decade of estrangement. Then there are her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins, all of whom still live in the house and resent her sudden inheritance. To make matters more complicated, her first boyfriend seeks her out, and her star author --- and occasional lover --- is suddenly determined to make things serious. As Lila tries to come to terms with both past and present, long-suppressed secrets from her family emerge, culminating in an act of shocking violence.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755847

MUNICHS by David Peace (Historical Fiction)
In 1958, Manchester United was flying high. The best-known soccer team in the world and reigning English champions, the team was led by a bright young group of star players nicknamed the “Busby Babes” after their charismatic manager Matt Busby. But on a snowy afternoon that February, a plane carrying the team back from a European Cup match crashed on takeoff in Munich, killing 23 people --- including eight Manchester United players and three team officials. The accident destroyed the team, traumatized fans all over the world, and devastated the tight-knit community in Manchester. In MUNICHS, renowned novelist David Peace reimagines the crash and its aftermath, dramatizing the deep scars it left on British society.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324086260

ONLY HERE, ONLY NOW by Tom Newlands (Fiction)
In the blazing hot summer of 1994, there’s nothing for Cora Mowat to do but hang around in empty parking lots. Stuck in her mother's small house and tired of her own restless mind, she’s desperate to break free of the limits of Fife but unsure of what the future holds --- if it holds anything at all for a girl like her trying to find her way in the world. After her mother invites a new man to live with them, tensions quickly rise in the cramped house. Gunner is kind but also strange --- a one-eyed shoplifter with more than a few hidden secrets. But when tragedy strikes shortly after, Cora rebels against her small-town existence in search of love, acceptance and a path to something good. If only she can learn to navigate her grief and everything she thinks she knows about who she is and what she might be capable of, she finally may find the way forward.
HarperVia | 9780063393455

THE PLAYBOOK by Gary E. Parker (Fiction)
In the heart of a small mountain town where football reigns supreme and tradition casts long shadows, Ms. Chelsea Deal defies the norm. Amid the echoes of clashing helmets and the roar of a crowd, Chelsea, a former big-city lawyer now cast as the interim head coach for the undefeated Rabon Knights, becomes the unexpected mentor for two young players whose dreams echo her own. Palmer, a reclusive teenager brimming with untapped talent, and Ty, an old soul fighting the gravest of battles, join forces with Chelsea to overcome their differences and fight for a championship. As the season unfolds, so do the lives of these characters as each one strives to defeat personal challenges.
Bancroft Press | 9781610886642

SERVANT OF EARTH: The Shards of Magic by Sarah Hawley (Fantasy/Romance)
Trapped as a servant in the faeries’ underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna Heron must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic: Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion and Blood. If she succeeds, her mistress will gain immortality and become the heir to Earth House. If she doesn’t, the punishment is death --- for both mistress and servant. With no ally but a sentient dagger of mysterious origins, Kenna must face monsters, magic and grueling physical tests. But worse dangers wait underground, and soon Kenna gets caught up in a secret rebellion against the inventively sadistic faerie king. When her feelings for the rebellion’s leader turn passionate, Kenna must decide if she’s willing to risk her life for a better world and a chance at happiness.
Ace | 9780593819791

SHY CREATURES by Clare Chambers (Historical/Literary Mystery)
The London suburb of Croydon, 1964: Helen Hansford is an art therapist at the Westbury Park psychiatric hospital, where she has been having a rebellious love affair with her colleague Gil, a dashing but married doctor. One spring afternoon, they receive a call about a disturbance at a derelict, vine-covered Victorian house. There the police find a mute, 37-year-old man called William Tapping. It appears he lives in the old house with his elderly, frail aunt, who expires as soon as she’s admitted to the hospital. No one knows why William has been shut away for decades, unseen by neighbors. When it emerges that William is not only sane but a talented artist, Helen comes to see him as something of a personal project. But as she tries to solve the puzzle of the Hidden Man’s past, Helen’s own carefully constructed life of secrets begins to unravel.
Mariner Books | 9780063258228

THE SUNFLOWER HOUSE by Adriana Allegri (Historical Fiction)
In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’ life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle’s bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina’s family hides a terrifying secret --- her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling. One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler’s ruthless eugenics program. Allina must keep her Jewish identity a secret in order to survive, but when she discovers the neglect occurring within the home, she’s determined to save not only herself, but also the children in her care.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250326522

THORNS, LUST, AND GLORY: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn by Estelle Paranque (Biography)
Anne Boleyn has mesmerized the general public for centuries. Her tragic execution at the Tower of London on May 19, 1536 --- orchestrated by her own husband --- never ceases to intrigue. While many stories of Anne’s downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her grim fate. In THORNS, LUST, AND GLORY, Estelle Paranque takes us back to where it all started: to France, where Anne learned the lessons that would set her on the path to becoming one of England's most infamous queens.
Hachette Books | 9780306835933

TIME WILL TELL by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery)
“Sister” Jane Arnold and her friend, Tootie Harris, are helping to lure home hunt club member Cindy Chandler’s two escaped cows, Clytemnestra and Orestes, when they discover an expensive watch carelessly abandoned on an overgrown path. The last thing Sister needs is another mystery to solve, but when one falls into her lap, she can’t help but get involved. Days later, a young man is murdered, one with seemingly no connection to the pricey jewelry or a life of crime. His mother is distraught, and Sister vows to find the murderer. But when hounds on the hunt discover a truck covered in blood --- with no body in sight --- she quickly realizes she’s in over her head with a cunning and clever adversary. Can she find the link and stop the murderer before they strike again? Only time will tell.
Bantam | 9780593873823

TO DIE FOR: A 6:20 Man Thriller by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Travis Devine has become a pro at accomplishing any mission he's given. But this time it’s not his skills that send him to Seattle to aid the FBI in escorting orphaned, 12-year-old Betsy Odom to a meeting with her uncle, who’s under investigation for RICO charges. Instead, he’s hoping to lay low and keep off the radar of an enemy --- the girl on the train. But as Devine gets to know Betsy, questions begin to arise around the death of her parents. Devine digs for answers, and what he finds points to a conspiracy bigger than he ever could’ve imagined. It finally might be time for Devine and the girl on the train to come face to face. Devine is going to find out the difference between his friends and his enemies --- and in some cases, they might well be both.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538757901

TOO YOUNG FOR CANCER: One Woman's Battle for a Diagnosis and a Fighting Chance by Katie Coleman (Memoir)
New Year's Eve 2020 was supposed to be a turning point to better days for 29-year-old Katie Coleman. Instead, she found herself in the ER processing the earth-shattering news of a stage IV cancer diagnosis, one that had come after years of being assured she was "too young for cancer” and a repeated misdiagnosis of anxiety. TOO YOUNG FOR CANCER tells the story of Katie’s journey from diagnosis with an ultrarare cancer through treatment, recovery and a life-altering shift in perspective. Katie starts her journey shy, timid and frightened of an intimidating medical world. But as she learns how to advocate for herself, she faces her own mortality with bravery and finds herself at top cancer institutions arguing her case for a radical and high-risk surgery that could change her life forever.
Alcove Press | 9781639109449

VANISHING TREASURES: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell (Nature/Essays)
The world is more astonishing, more miraculous and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In VANISHING TREASURES, Katherine Rundell takes us on a globe-spanning tour of the world's most awe-inspiring animals currently facing extinction. This urgent, inspiring book of essays dedicated to 23 unusual and underappreciated creatures is a clarion call insisting that we look at the world around us with new eyes --- to see the magic of the animals we live among, their unknown histories and capabilities, and, above all, how lucky we are to tread the same ground as such vanishing treasures.
Doubleday | 9780385550826

On Sale the Week of November 11th in Paperback

November 12th

BARKLEY: A Biography by Timothy Bella (Biography)
Passionate, candid, iconoclastic and gifted both on and off the court, Charles Barkley has made a lasting impact on not only the world of basketball but pop culture at large. Yet few people know the real Charles. Raised by his mother and grandmother in Leeds, Alabama, he struggled in his early years to fit in until he found a sense of community and purpose in basketball. In the NBA he went toe-to-toe with the biggest legends in the game, from Magic to Michael to Hakeem to Shaq. But in the years since, he has become a bold agitator for social change, unafraid to grapple --- often brashly --- with even the thorniest of cultural issues facing our nation today.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335005670

BLOOD BETRAYAL: A Detective Inaya Rahman Novel by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Mystery/Thriller)
In Blackwater Falls, Colorado, veteran police officer Harry Cooper is hot on the heels of some local vandals when the situation turns deadly. Believing one of them has a gun, Harry opens fire and Duante Young, a young Black man, is killed. The "gun" in his hands was a bottle of spray paint. Meanwhile, in nearby Denver, a drug raid goes south and a Latino teen, Mateo Ruiz, is also killed. The Denver Police force is spread thin between the two cases, and protests on both sides begin. Detective Inaya Rahman and her boss, Lieutenant Waqas Seif, have their work cut out for them to consider the guilt of the perpetrators and their victims. While Inaya is forced to reckon with her own prejudices and work through those of her colleagues, she must discover the truth of what really happened on one fateful night in Blackwater Walls.
Minotaur Books | 9781250353825

BLOOD, FIRE & GOLD: The Story of Elizabeth I & Catherine de Medici by Estelle Paranque (Biography)
Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures. Yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. Much has been written about these shrewd and strategic sovereigns, but though their legacies have been heavily scrutinized, nothing has been said of their complicated relationship --- 30 years of camaraderie, competition and conflict that forever changed the face of Europe. In BLOOD, FIRE & GOLD, historian Estelle Paranque offers a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women: through the eyes of the other. Whether engaged in bloody battles or peaceful accords, Elizabeth and Catherine admired the force and resilience of the other, while never forgetting that they were, first and foremost, each other's true rival.
Hachette Books | 9780306830525

THE BURROW by Melanie Cheng (Fiction)
Paperback Original
THE BURROW brings together a family trying to find their way forward in the wake of a devastating loss. Parents Jin and Amy Lee adopt a rabbit for their daughter, Lucie, in the hopes of restoring a bit of joy to their home in the Australian suburbs. At first, each family member benefits from the distraction of a new creature in need of care. However, things are upended when the arrival of Amy’s estranged mother breaks their fragile sense of peace. The family is forced to confront the terrible circumstances surrounding their tragedy and to ask themselves whether opening their hearts to the rabbit will help them to heal or only invite further sorrow.
Tin House Books | 9781959030867

CROSS by Austin Duffy (Fiction)
Paperback Original
1994, the summer leading up to the ceasefire between Britain and the IRA. In the Northern Irish border town of Cross, after decades of violent activity protesting British rule, a community plays out its end game. Francie, a hardened yet troubled IRA man, has authorized the murder of a policeman by two teenage henchmen. The Widow Donnelly protests in the town square because her son has gone missing. Young Cathy Murphy, a Protestant, is trying to find her place among a people who ignore her. And pathological Handy Byrnes, whose marksmanship makes him a valuable weapon, is out of control. Meanwhile, paranoia is growing because operations are beginning to go wrong. The townsfolk suspect a tout, but no one is willing to accept the evidence before their eyes.
Melville House | 9781685891770

FOUNDING PARTISANS: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics by H. W. Brands (History)
To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were a fatal threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. In FOUNDING PARTISANS, master historian H. W. Brands has crafted a fresh and lively narrative of the early years of the republic as the Founding Fathers fought one another with competing visions of what our nation would be.
Vintage | 9780593469033

A GAME OF LIES by Clare Mackintosh (Psychological Thriller)
Stranded in the Welsh mountains, seven reality show contestants have no idea what they've signed up for. Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won't just be eliminated --- they'll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they'd ever imagined, and they're trapped. The disappearance of a contestant wasn't supposed to be part of the drama. Detective Ffion Morgan has to put aside what she's watched on screen and find out who these people really are --- knowing she can't trust any of them. And when a murderer strikes, Ffion knows every one of her suspects has an alibi…and a secret worth killing for.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728296531

GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey (Memoir)
I’ve been in this life for 50 years, been trying to work out its riddle for 42, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last 35. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me. Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far.
Crown | 9780593139158

GUILT AND GINATAAN: A Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery by Mia P. Manansala (Mystery)
Paperback Original
The annual Shady Palms Corn Festival is one of the town’s biggest moneymakers, drawing crowds from all over the Midwest looking to partake in delicious treats, local crafts and, of course, the second largest corn maze in Illinois. Lila Macapagal and her Brew-ha Cafe crew, Adeena Awan and Elena Torres, are all too happy to participate in the event. But their fun is suddenly cut short when a dead body is found in the middle of the maze…and an unconscious Adeena lies next to it, clutching a bloody knife. The body is discovered to be a local politician’s wife, and all signs point to Adeena as the culprit. But Lila knows her best friend couldn’t have done this, so she and her crew put on their sleuthing caps yet again to find the killer who framed Adeena and show them what happens when they mess with a Brew-ha.
Berkley | 9780593549186

THE HELSINKI AFFAIR by Anna Pitoniak (Thriller)
Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA officer following in the footsteps of her father, who was a spy during the Cold War. One hot summer day, a Russian defector warns of the imminent assassination of a US senator. Though Amanda takes the warning seriously, her superiors don’t. Twenty-four hours later, the senator is dead. And the assassination is just the beginning. Corporate blackmail, covert manipulation, corrupt oligarchs: the Kremlin has found a dangerous new way to wage war. Teaming up with Kath Frost, a fearless older woman and legendary spy, Amanda races to unravel the international conspiracy. But as she gets closer and closer to the truth, a central question haunts her: Why was her father’s name written down in the senator’s notes? What does Charlie Cole really know about the Kremlin plot?
Simon & Schuster | 9781668014752

HOT SPRINGS DRIVE by Lindsay Hunter (Fiction)
Jackie Stinson’s best friend is dead, and everyone knows who killed her. Jackie is an ex–emotional eater and mother of four who finally has lost the weight she long yearned to be free of. In her new, sharp-edged body, she goes by Jacqueline. But leaving her old self behind proves harder than she ever imagined. And while she believes she should be happier, misery still chases her, and motherhood threatens to subsume what little is left of her. Jacqueline’s only salve is her best friend, Theresa, whose seemingly perfect life she desperately covets. Since they met in the maternity ward 15 years earlier, the two have survived the trials of motherhood side by side. Their bond is tight, but it is not enough to keep Jacqueline from stealing a bit of Theresa’s perfect life.
Grove Press | 9780802163615

LIFE’S SHORT, TALK FAST: Fifteen Writers on Why We Can't Stop Watching "Gilmore Girls" edited by Ann Hood (Popular Culture/Essays)
Paperback Original
Fast-talking, warm-hearted and endlessly rewatchable, “Gilmore Girls” has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory and their idyllic Connecticut town of Stars Hollow. More than 20 years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows ever. In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as “Gilmore Girls” itself, Ann Hood invites 15 writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Sanjena Sathian sees herself --- and Asian American defiance --- in Lane Kim; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Francesco Sedita discovers an antidote to pandemic loneliness; and Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324079453

ODYSSEY’S END: A Rick Cahill Novel by Matt Coyle (Hard-boiled Mystery/Thriller)
San Diego private investigator Rick Cahill’s wife, Leah, has fled with their daughter, Krista, to her parents’ home in Santa Barbara. She fears Rick’s violent outbursts brought on by his potentially fatal brain disorder, CTE. Rick desperately wants to reunite his family and help provide for Krista’s future --- one he fears he won’t be alive to see. A jumpstart toward that future appears in the form of Peter Stone, Rick’s longtime enemy. Stone offers Rick $50,000 to find a woman he claims can save his life with a kidney transplant. Rick can’t pass up the chance to buttress Krista’s future. When what seems like a simple missing person case spirals out of control into cryptocurrency machinations, dead bodies and an outgunned faceoff, Rick is forced to battle evil from his past.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096312

ONCE A GIANT: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football by Gary Myers (Sports)
The 1986 New York Giants are legendary. A championship team coached by Bill Parcells and his wunderkind assistant Bill Belichick, featuring future Hall of Famers and All-Pros like Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Mark Bavaro and Harry Carson. They were dominant on the field and formed a unique and lasting bond off of it. More than 30 years later, it's the friendships that have proved more important --- a matter of life and death. In ONCE A GIANT, bestselling football writer Gary Myers tells the story of that team and what became of it. Gridiron glory eventually faded; chronic pain, addiction and, in some cases, crimes have followed. Many football players face these harsh realities, but the Giants have confronted and survived them together.
PublicAffairs | 9781541702400

OPINIONS: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business by Roxane Gay (Essays)
Since the publication of the groundbreaking BAD FEMINIST and HUNGER, Roxane Gay has continued to tackle big issues embroiling society --- state-sponsored violence and mass shootings, women’s rights post-Dobbs, online disinformation, and the limits of empathy --- alongside more individually personalized matters: Can I tell my co-worker her perfume makes me sneeze? Is it acceptable to schedule a daily 8am meeting? In her role as a New York Times opinion section contributor and the publication’s “Work Friend” columnist, she reaches millions of readers with her wise voice and sharp insights. OPINIONS is a collection of her best nonfiction pieces from the past 10 years.
Harper Perennial | 9780063341470

PICKLEBALLERS by Ilana Long (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Meg Bloomberg is in a pickle. When Meg’s ex turns out to be a total player, she and her bestie take off for a mood-lifting pickleball excursion to Bainbridge Island. It’s supposed to be an easy lob, a way to heal, not the opening serve to a new courtside romance that’s doomed to spin out. No matter how Meg tries, she can’t shake her feelings for Ethan Fine. A charismatic environmental consultant and Bainbridge local, Ethan seems like the real dill. But when Meg discovers that Ethan is sabotaging her home court, she decides the match is over. It’s time for Meg to take control of her own game. And maybe, just maybe, love will bounce back.
Berkley | 9780593642238

PICTURES OF YOU by Emma Grey (Romance)
Paperback Original
Evie Hudson should be grieving her dead husband, but since the car crash that claimed his life and landed her in the hospital, she can’t remember him at all. The only person who can help her piece her past together is her high school best friend, Drew Kennedy. When snippets of her memory start falling into place, Evie wonders exactly how she ended up in a life that couldn’t be further from the one she dreamed of. This time around, she’s seeing all the things she missed --- and the life she gets to choose...again.
Zibby Books | 9781958506462

THE PROFESSOR by Lauren Nossett (Mystery/Thriller)
Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His professor, Dr. Verena Sobek, has been taken in for questioning, and there are rumors his death is the result of a bad romance. A former detective turned research assistant, Marlitt Kaplan misses the excitement of her old job, but most of all the friendship of her partner, Teddy. When her mother, a colleague of the accused professor, asks for her help, she finds herself in the impossible position of proving something didn't happen. Without the credentials to interview suspects or access phone records, she will have to get closer to a victim's life than ever before. And she quickly finds herself in his apartment, having dinner with his roommates, even sleeping in his bed. But is she too close to see the truth?
Flatiron Books | 9781250845368

ROLLING TOWARD CLEAR SKIES by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Maggie Blount, a divorced mother of two and a California physician, puts her private practice on hold when disaster strikes. Doctors on Wheels takes her and Alex --- Maggie’s professional and romantic partner --- wherever they’re needed. After rolling into rural Louisiana in the wake of a category five hurricane, Maggie immediately bonds with two sisters and their puppy, all orphaned by the storm. Feeling blessed and looking forward to their new foster home in affluent Vista del Mar --- a world apart from the one they’ve known --- Jean and Rose are polite, appreciative and humble. Frankly, they're the polar opposite of Maggie’s own self-involved teenage daughters, Willa and Gemma, who resist this intrusion by strangers into their privileged lives. Soon enough, Maggie’s new blended family is in chaos.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662504464

SHE’S ALWAYS HUNGRY: Stories by Eliza Clark (Fiction/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
A woman welcomes a parasite into her body. A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Unsettling, revelatory and laced with her signature dark humor, Eliza Clark’s debut short story collection plumbs the depths of that most basic human feeling: hunger.
Harper Perennial | 9780063393264

THE SILENCE IN HER EYES by Armando Lucas Correa (Psychological Thriller)
Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. For the last 20 years, she hasn’t been able to see movement. But she does see a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice. When Alice moves into the apartment next door, Leah can immediately smell the anxiety wafting off her. Worse, she can’t help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor engage in a violent fight. Then one night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. She blacks out and in the morning is left wondering if she dreamt the episode. Yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength and ultimately her sanity.
Atria Books | 9781982197513

UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There by Garrett M. Graff (History)
For as long as we have looked to the skies, the question of whether life on Earth is the only life to exist has been at the core of the human experience, driving scientific debate and discovery, shaping spiritual belief, and prompting existential thought across borders and generations. And yet, the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence has been largely seen as a joke, banished to the realm of fantasy and conspiracy. Now, for the first time, the full story of our national obsession with UFOs --- and the covert, decades-long search by scientists, the United States military, and the CIA for proof of alien life --- is told by bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff in a deeply reported and researched history.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982196783

UHTRED’S FEAST: Inside the World of The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell with Suzanne Pollak (Historical Fiction/Social History)
UHTRED’S FEAST offers rich background on the books of Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series, presenting a fascinating, detailed view of Anglo-Saxon life in all its splendor, danger and beauty. With his narrative flair, Cornwell explores every aspect of this historical period, from the clothes to weapons to food, offering beautifully crafted recipes of early Anglo-Saxon fare, created by renowned UK chef Suzanne Pollak. In addition, he has written three new stories exclusive to this book that reveal the man behind the shield --- Uhtred as a young boy, as Alfred’s advisor, and as prince.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063219373

THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young (Mystery & Romance/Magical Realism)
The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm --- and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors. It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. But she is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own. After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for?
Dell | 9780593598696

YOURS FOR THE TAKING by Gabrielle Korn (Dystopian Fiction)
The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn. Although they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world. When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for...most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250357625

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