November 12, 2024

November 12, 2024

Never Miss a Contest or a Promotion!
Follow and Like Us on Social Media

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of November 11th and November 18th 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 “What to Give, What to Get” feature. Here, we are spotlighting three books that we think are “reader perfect” suggestions for holiday giving and getting: THE BLUE HOUR by Paula Hawkins (an upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On pick), EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET by Benjamin Stevenson, and THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AT DUNDER MIFFLIN by Brian Baumgartner and Ben Silverman.

Join Us Tomorrow Afternoon!

This Week's Bonus News:
“What to Give, What to Get” Guide: “Reader Perfect” Suggestions for Holiday Giving and Getting

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, November 13th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Preview: Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between November 12th and the end of the year, along with a few from January and February, that we would like to get on your radar. Included will be fiction; historical fiction; thrillers and mysteries; and memoirs, biographies and other nonfiction.

Wednesday, November 13th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with David Baldacci about his new thriller, TO DIE FOR. This time, the 6:20 Man is sent to the Pacific Northwest to aid in a complicated FBI case --- and he’s about to come face to face with his nemesis, the girl on the train.

Tuesday, November 19th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle, Heather Gudenkauf and Kaira Rouda will talk to Patricia Cornwell about her latest book, IDENTITY UNKNOWN. Summoned to an abandoned theme park to retrieve a body, Dr. Kay Scarpetta is devastated to learn that the victim is a man with whom she once had an intense love affair.

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

On Sale the Week of November 18th in Hardcover

November 19th

CHER: The Memoir, Part One by Cher (Memoir)
After more than 70 years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir. As a dyslexic child who dreamed of becoming famous, Cher was raised in often-chaotic circumstances, surrounded by singers, actors and a mother who inspired her in spite of their difficult relationship. With her trademark honesty and humor, CHER traces how this diamond in the rough succeeded with no plan and little confidence to become the trailblazing superstar the world has been unable to ignore for more than half a century. It follows her extraordinary beginnings through childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono --- and reveals the highly complicated relationship that made them world-famous but eventually drove them apart.
Dey Street Books | 9780062863102

CITIZEN: My Life After the White House by Bill Clinton (Memoir)
On January 20, 2001, after nearly 30 years in politics --- eight of them as president of the United States --- Bill Clinton was suddenly a private citizen. Only 54 years old, he wanted to make meaningful use of his skills, his relationships with world leaders, and all he’d learned in a lifetime of politics. Just days after leaving the White House, the call came to aid victims of a devastating earthquake in India, and Clinton hit the ground running. Over the next two decades, he would create an enduring legacy of public service and advocacy work --- from Indonesia to Louisiana, Northern Ireland to South Africa --- and in the process reimagine philanthropy and redefine the impact a former president could have on the world. CITIZEN is Clinton’s front-row, first-person chronicle of his post-presidential years and the most significant events of the 21st century.
Knopf | 9780525521440

THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS written by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel (Fiction/Magical Realism)
We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears…and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life. Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and another world --- where unicorns roam, a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and shadows become untethered from their selves. The man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he’s been missing all along.
Knopf | 9780593801970

FROM UNDER THE TRUCK: A Memoir by Josh Brolin (Memoir)
Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness and humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood. Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout. Brolin also brings to life his career in the film industry and the professional and personal ups and downs in between and since. With unflinching honesty but also great humor, he shares insights into relationships, addiction, love and fatherhood, while letting the white space in between words speak for itself.
Harper | 9780063382183

THE MIRROR: The Lost Bride Trilogy, Book 2 by Nora Roberts
(Paranormal Romance/Fantasy)
When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming and the music playing are not figments of her imagination. In her dreams she sees glimpses of the past. In the present she finds portraits of brides. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets. Then one night the mirror appears, and Sonya glides through this looking glass, into the past --- and sees a bride murdered on her wedding day, the circle of gold torn from her finger. It is a scene that will play out again and again --- a centuries-old curse that must be broken, and a puzzle she must solve if there is any hope of breaking the curse.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250288776

NOW OR NEVER: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
She said yes to Morelli. She said yes to Ranger. Now Stephanie Plum has two fiancés and no idea what to do about it. But the way things are going, she might not live long enough to marry anyone. While Stephanie stalls for time, she buries herself in her work as a bounty hunter, tracking down an unusually varied assortment of fugitives from justice. With timely assists from her stalwart supporters Lula, Connie and Grandma Mazur, Stephanie uses every trick in the book to reel in these men. But only she can decide what to do about the two men she actually loves. She can’t hold Ranger and Morelli at bay for long, and she’s keeping a secret from them that is the biggest bombshell of all. Now or never, she has to make the decision of a lifetime.
Atria Books | 9781668003138

THE SERVICEBERRY: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World written by Robin Wall Kimmerer, illustrated by John Burgoyne (Nature)
As Indigenous scientist and author of BRAIDING SWEETGRASS Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth --- its abundance of sweet, juicy berries --- to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival.
Scribner | 9781668072240

TIME OF THE CHILD by Niall Williams (Historical Fiction)
Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean that he has always been set apart from the town. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father's shadow and remains there, having missed one chance at love --- and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man. But in the Advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy's lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter's lives, the understanding of their family and their role in their community are changed forever.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639734207

TOOTH AND CLAW: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
TOOTH AND CLAW follows Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear up to Alaska as they look for work after they both returned from serving in Vietnam. While working for an oil company in the bitter cold of winter, they soon encounter a ferocious polar bear who seems hell-bent on their destruction. But it’s not too long until they realize the danger does not lurk outside in the frozen Alaskan tundra, but with their co-workers, who are after priceless treasure and will stop at nothing to get it.
Viking | 9780593834169

TRIAL BY FIRE by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Dahlia de Beaumont has been the sole owner and CEO of the venerable family perfume business based in Paris since her early 20s, following the death of her parents. For 25 years, after losing her young skier husband in an avalanche, her life has centered on running Lambert Perfumes and being a devoted single mother to her four now-adult children. Now 56, she has an “arrangement” with a married French man but has been questioning that relationship. Dahlia comes to San Francisco on a routine business trip to check on her stores in the States. But shortly after her arrival, brush fires ignite in Napa Valley. Dahlia is moved to help, but doing so will bring unforeseen consequences. Forced to remain in San Francisco in the aftermath, she will make unexpected connections while also fighting to protect all she has worked for.
Delacorte Press | 9780593498583

THE TRUNK by Kim Ryeo-ryeong (Fiction)
Noh Inji is almost 30 years old. With five wedding rings and counting, she's never once been in love. When Inji first accepted a job at Wedding & Life, a popular matchmaking service, she never imagined her role would be with NM, their secret marriage division that rents out “husbands” and “wives” to their wealthiest clientele. Just like a real marriage, Inji's assignments involve a wedding, some sex and a bit of housework, all tailored exactly to the client’s desires and length of time before they go their separate ways. But then one of Inji's old husbands, a mysterious high-profile music producer, requests her back for another year. Over the course of their marriage, the secrets of Inji’s past begin to unravel --- as well as the dark, sinister underbelly of NM’s management team, who will stop at nothing to preserve their reputation…and their clients.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335015013

WATER, WATER: Poems by Billy Collins (Poetry)
In this collection of 60 new poems, Billy Collins writes about the beauties and ironies of everyday experience. A poem is best, he feels, when it begins in clarity but ends with a whiff of mystery. In WATER, WATER, Collins combines his vigilant attention and respect for the peripheral to create moments of delight. Common and uncommon events are captured here with equal fascination, be it a cat leaning to drink from a swimming pool, a nurse calling a name in a waiting room, or an astronaut reciting Emily Dickinson from outer space. With his trademark lyrical informality, Collins asks us to slow down and glimpse the elevated in the ordinary, the odd in the familiar.
Random House | 9780593731024

WE THREE QUEENS: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Historical Mystery)
It's late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie's husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do. But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds. Trying to keep Mrs. Simpson hidden while raising a newborn baby seems like it couldn't be any more stressful for the Rannochs, until one of the stars of the film is found murdered on set. Georgie must solve the murder for king and country before scandal threatens to envelop them all.
Berkley | 9780593641361

On Sale the Week of November 18th in Paperback

November 19th

BAUMGARTNER by Paul Auster (Fiction)
The life of Sy Baumgartner --- phenomenologist, noted author and soon-to-be retired philosophy professor --- had been defined by his deep, abiding love for his wife, Anna, who was killed in a swimming accident nine years earlier. Now 71, Baumgartner continues to struggle to live in her absence as the novel sinuously unfolds into spirals of memory and reminiscence, delineated in episodes spanning from 1968, when Sy and Anna meet as broke students working and writing in New York, through their passionate relationship over the next 40 years, and back to Baumgartner’s youth in Newark and his Polish-born father’s life as a dress-shop owner and failed revolutionary.
‎Grove Press | 9780802163554

CHRISTMAS WITH THE QUEEN by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she also must find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father’s Christmas Day radio broadcast. As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends Jack Devereux and Olive Carter are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration. Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. A chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition. As Jack and Olive’s paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063276215

DAUGHTER OF ASHES: A Teresa Battaglia Novel written by Ilaria Tuti, translated by Ekin Oklap (Mystery/Thriller)
Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a trailblazing criminal detective on the Italian police force, is on sick leave, recovering from her recent brush with death in pursuit of a killer. But none of her colleagues, not even her partner, know that her Alzheimer’s is getting worse, and that she is unsure she will ever return to work. Teresa’s plans for retirement are shelved, however, when she is urgently summoned to meet with menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi. Refusing to speak with anyone but Teresa, whose investigative work 27 years prior landed him in maximum security prison, Mainardi has disconcerting news: somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. To solve the case, Teresa must come face to face with a history she thought she’d buried.
Soho Crime | 9781641296199

DEAD MAN’S HAND: A Pike Logan Novel by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
To finally end the war between their nations, a rogue band of Ukranian partisans known as the Wolves teams up with members of Russia’s military intelligence to assassinate Vladimir Putin. But Putin is aware of the traitors in his midst and assigns the loyal commander of the Russian National Guard to root them out. It’s a mission Victor Petrov is expected to undertake after he prevents Sweden from joining NATO --- by assassinating a deputy minister of foreign affairs. After receiving intelligence about the threat in Sweden, the United States sends Pike Logan to identify Petrov’s target --- only for him to get caught in the crossfire. When the smoke clears, Pike makes no effort to stop the Wolves on their ultimate mission, believing it just, until he discovers that their operation has unimaginable consequences.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063358638

DEATH WRITES: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter (Mystery)
Preparations are underway for Glenfest, Glendara’s literary festival. Phyllis Kettle, the local bookshop owner, is especially pleased to have persuaded Gavin Featherstone, the local bestselling recluse writer, to take part. The festival begins, and an eager crowd awaits Featherstone’s appearance on stage. He is unexpectedly engaging, but when he stands to read from his new book, he stumbles and keels over on the platform. Solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe discovers that she holds Featherstone’s will at the office, drafted by her predecessor. Soon, she’s drawn into a complicated legal wrangle over the man’s estate involving his family and the assistant who lived with him. But nothing can be resolved yet, as a killer cannot inherit from their victim --- and Gavin Featherstone’s death was a murder.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096329

DEEP FREEZE by Michael C. Grumley (Technothriller)
The accident came quickly. With no warning. In the dead of night, a precipitous plunge into a freezing river trapped everyone inside the bus. It was then that Army veteran John Reiff’s life came to an end. Extinguished in the sudden rush of frigid water. There was no expectation of survival. None. Let alone waking up beneath blinding hospital lights. Struggling to move, or see, or even breathe. But the doctors assure him that everything is normal. That things will improve. And yet, he has a strange feeling that there's something they're not telling him. As Reiff's mind and body gradually recover, he becomes certain that the doctors are lying to him. One by one, puzzle pieces are slowly falling into place, and he soon realizes that things are not at all what they seem.
Forge Books | 9781250898739

THE ESTATE by Sarah Jost (Speculative Thriller/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Art historian Camille Leray has spent her career surrounding herself with fineries and selling pieces worth millions. But she harbors a secret: she has the ability to enter the world of any piece of artwork, and she can take others with her. But tapping into history comes with great risks. And someone has been watching, someone who knows about her magic…and her mistakes. After Camille ruins her career and reputation by misusing her powers, she vows to get her old life back. So when Maxime Foucault, an enigmatic aristocrat who owns a sprawling French estate, enlists her help in authenticating the statues of a mysterious artist, she knows this could be her chance to turn her career around and get the man she's always wanted. But something isn't right about the Foucault family and the grand chateau they inhabit.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728262734

GIRLFRIEND ON MARS by Deborah Willis (Fiction/Satire)
Amber Kivinen is moving to Mars. Or at least she will be if she wins a chance to join "MarsNow." She and 23 reality TV contestants from around the world are competing for two seats on the first human-led mission to Mars, sponsored by billionaire Geoff Task. Meanwhile, Amber’s boyfriend, Kevin, was content going nowhere until Amber left him --- and their hydroponic weed business --- behind. As he tends to (and smokes) the plants growing in their basement apartment, Kevin tunes in to find out why the love of his life is so determined to leave the planet with somebody else. On screen, Amber competes in globe-trotting, “Survivor”-meets-“Star Trek” challenges and seems like she might be falling for fellow contestant Adam. But is that real, or is it just a tactic to keep from being voted off?
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324087007

HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano (Fiction)
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos. But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593243756

HOLLYWOOD HUSTLE by Jon Lindstrom (Thriller)
Winston Greene, a has-been film star, wakes up one morning to find his six-year-old granddaughter at his bedside --- traumatized, unattended and gripping onto a thumb drive. She comes bearing video proof that her mother, Win’s troubled adult daughter, has been kidnapped by a murderous gang demanding all his “movie money” for her safe return. But what they don’t know is that his movie money is long gone. Unable to go to the police for fear the kidnappers will make good on their promise to kill his daughter, Winston turns to two close friends: a legendary Hollywood stuntman and a disgraced former LAPD detective. There’s no easy way out for Winston or his daughter, and he begins to realize that to get her back, he’ll have to beat the kidnappers at their own game.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892420686

IS SHE REALLY GOING OUT WITH HIM? by Sophie Cousens (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she’d rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children. From awkward encounters to unexpected connections, Anna gamely begins to put herself out there, asking out waiters, the mailman and even her celebrity crush. But when a romantic connection appears where she least expected it, will she be brave enough to take another chance on love?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593718902

THE LAST KING OF CALIFORNIA by Jordan Harper (Crime Fiction)
Paperback Original
After years apart from his criminal family, young Luke Crosswhite returns to their flock deep in the California desert. Luke’s father is serving time for a brutal murder that Luke himself witnessed. Now, his uncle vies for power and rival biker gangs encroach on the family’s various criminal enterprises. A sensitive boy grown hard man, Luke navigates the vicious pressures of “home,” and the loyalties to his old friend, Cassie, who has hatched a scheme with her boyfriend, Pretty Baby, to escape the control of the gang, the Combine. Hanging over these desperate, lonesome parties is the gang’s motto, tattooed indelibly across the heart: Blood is Love.
Mulholland Books | 9780316581400

THE MAUI EFFECT by Sara Ackerman (Romance)
Paperback Original
‘Iwa Young’s life is high in the Maui rainforest. As a field biologist, she’s happiest in the company of trees, birds and waterfalls. When a developer arrives with plans for a so-called eco resort in the middle of a forest full of endangered species, ‘Iwa puts all her energy into the fight to protect it. But a chance encounter threatens to distract her. His name is Dane Parsons, a big-wave surfer from California. ‘Iwa has a few unbreakable rules, and at the top of her list: never date a surfer. Dane is part of an underground group of big-wave riders, and his connection to the ocean runs deep. When he meets ‘Iwa, he can’t get her out of his mind. But ‘Iwa wants nothing to do with Dane until he offers to help protect her beloved forest and waterfall. Always on the hunt for the ultimate ride, Dane suddenly glimpses something even greater.
Mira | 9780778369561

SHELL GAMES by Bonnie Kistler (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Julie’s mother, Kate, is a self-made real estate developer, a grande dame in Florida society, and a power broker in Florida politics. It wasn’t easy for Julie to grow up in the shadow of such a dynamo, but she loves her mother. She and her husband, Eric, are thrilled when Kate marries her long-lost high school sweetheart, a salt-of-the-earth man named Charlie. But on their wedding night, Kate calls the police in hysterics to report that Charlie just confessed to a notorious unsolved crime from decades before. Charlie says that Kate imagined it. Eric says that Kate has dementia. And the FBI says that Charlie couldn’t possibly have committed that crime. Julie doesn’t know what to believe. Is her brilliant mother losing her mind? Or is sweet, lovable Charlie gaslighting Kate to gain control of her fortune?
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063378964

A TRUE ACCOUNT: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself by Katherine Howe (Historical Fiction)
In Boston, as the Golden Age of Piracy comes to a bloody close, Hannah Masury is ready to take her life into her own hands. When a man is hanged for piracy in the town square and whispers of a treasure in the Caribbean spread, Hannah is forced to flee for her life, disguising herself as a cabin boy in the pitiless crew of the notorious pirate Edward "Ned" Low. To earn the freedom to choose a path for herself, Hannah must hunt down the treasure and change the tides. Meanwhile, professor Marian Beresford pieces Hannah’s story together in 1930, seeing her own lack of freedom reflected back at her as she watches Hannah's transformation. At the center of Hannah’s account lies a centuries-old mystery that Marian is determined to solve, just as Hannah may have been determined to take it to her grave.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250894212

Please visit the other websites in TheBookReportNetwork.com: ReadingGroupGuides.com and AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

And be sure to connect with us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.