December 3, 2024

December 3, 2024

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 2nd and December 9th 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 review of CHER: The Memoir, Part One, which is now in stores. 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 this highly anticipated two-part memoir (the second part will release in November 2025).

Our "Best of 2024" Reviewer Event
is Just Eight Days Away!

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Review of CHER: The Memoir, Part One by Cher

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, December 4th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Signe Pike about THE SHADOWED LAND, the third entry in her Lost Queen series, which boldly reimagines King Arthur and his contemporaries.

Monday, December 9th at 7pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation and cultural icon Ina Garten for a live virtual discussion of her long-awaited memoir, BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS. Ina will be in conversation with broadcast journalist and writer Lynn Sherr.

Tuesday, December 10th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle, Heather Gudenkauf and Kaira Rouda will talk to Benjamin Stevenson about EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET, his third Ernest Cunningham mystery.

On Sale the Week of December 2nd in Hardcover

December 3rd

AGAINST THE GRAIN: A Peter Diamond Investigation by Peter Lovesey (Mystery)
Detective Peter Diamond is taking a short holiday. His former colleague, Julie Hargreaves, has invited Diamond and his partner, Paloma, to visit the idyllic village of Baskerville. The woman who owns the village’s largest dairy farm has been convicted of manslaughter following a terrible accident in her grain silo. Julie’s ex-investigator instinct tells her there has been a miscarriage of justice and a murderer is on the loose. But Julie has been keeping secrets of her own and can’t take her inquiry any further. Diamond takes the bait. The case is a fascinating one, but maintaining his innocent tourist facade becomes harder as he closes in on his suspects. AGAINST THE GRAIN is the conclusion to the Peter Diamond series --- and Peter Lovesey’s final book.
Soho Crime | 9781641296151

ALTER EGO by Alex Segura (Mystery/Thriller)
Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all-time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she’s never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available --- until now. But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle's father started Triumph Comics and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie’s inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.
Flatiron Books | 9781250801777

BELLEVUE by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller/Horror)
Twenty-three-year-old Michael “Mitt” Fuller starts his surgical residency with great anticipation at the iconic Bellevue Hospital, following in the footsteps of four previous, celebrated Fuller generations. To his advantage he’s always had a secret sixth sense, a sensitivity to the nonphysical. But quickly one patient after another assigned to his care begin to die from mysterious causes. As he tries to juggle these inexplicable deaths with the demands of being a first-year resident, things rapidly spiral out of control. Visions begin to plague Mitt --- visions of a little girl in a bloodstained dress, bloodcurdling screams in the distance, and worse. As bodies mount, he finds himself drawn to the abandoned Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital building and discovers that he’s more closely tied to the sins of the past than he ever thought possible.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593718834

CABIN: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison (Memoir)
Wit’s End isn’t just a state of mind. It’s the name of a gravel road, the address of a run-down off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper that Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. To say Hutchison didn’t know what he was getting into is no more an exaggeration than to say he’s a man with nearly zero carpentry skills. Well, used to be. You can learn a lot over six years of renovations. CABIN is the story of those renovations, but it's also a love story --- of a place, of possibilities, and of the process of construction, of seeing what could be instead of what is. It is a book for those who know what it’s like to bite off more than you can chew, or who desperately wish to.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250285706

THE CLOSE-UP by Pip Drysdale (Psychological Thriller)
When Zoe Ann Weiss moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, her whole future is wide open. But then Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she’s falling for, ghosts her. Her debut novel, a thriller, fails. And she has writer’s block worse than ever before. Now, three years later, Zoe is facing her 30th birthday, a dead-end job at a flower shop, and a demanding agent. But when she goes to make a flower delivery and Zach is at the address, it’s like no time has passed at all. They start casually dating in secret, and her writer’s block disappears. But then the inevitable happens and photos are leaked, landing Zoe in the press. Her first novel goes viral, and now everyone seems to know her name. Except the problem with everyone knowing your name is that everyone knows your name --- including the mysterious stalker obsessed with Zach.
Gallery Books | 9781668037928

THE CURE FOR WOMEN: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women's Lives Forever by Lydia Reeder (History)
After Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school, more women demanded a chance to study medicine. Barred entrance to universities like Harvard, women built their own first-rate medical schools and hospitals. Their success spurred a chilling backlash from elite, white male physicians who were obsessed with eugenics and the propagation of the white race. Into the midst of this turmoil marched Mary Putnam Jacobi, the first woman to be accepted into the world-renowned Sorbonne medical school in Paris. As one of the best-educated doctors in the world, she returned to New York for the fight of her life. Aided by other prominent women physicians and suffragists, Jacobi conducted the first-ever data-backed, scientific research on women's reproductive biology. The results of her studies shook the foundations of medical science and higher education.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250284457

DEADBEAT by Adam Hamdy (Thriller)
Peyton Collard was a good man once, but his life changed after a horrific car accident. Divorced, drunk and severely damaged, Peyton is offered a life-changing sum of money to kill an evil man. But as he goes on a vigilante journey that leaves a trail of bodies across California, Peyton wonders about the identity of his anonymous patron. Soon, his questions become an obsession, and he embarks on a tense and potentially deadly investigation to discover the truth about the murders he’s committed.
Atria Books | 9781668031520

GABRIEL'S MOON by William Boyd (Historical Thriller)
Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a fire that took his mother’s life. Every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing the changing landscapes of Europe in the grip of the Cold War. When he is offered the chance to interview Patrice Lumumba, the newly elected president of the People’s Republic of the Congo, he finds himself drawn into a web of duplicities and betrayals. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthlessly efficient MI6 handler, he becomes “her spy,” unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, there also will be revelations closer to home that may change his own story and the fates of those around him.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802164872

GIANT LOVE: Edna Ferber, Her Best-Selling Novel of Texas, and the Making of a Classic American Film by Julie Gilbert (Performing Arts/Biography)
The stupendous publication of Edna Ferber's GIANT in 1952 set off a storm of protest over the novel's portrayal of Texas manners, money and mores, with oil-rich Texans threatening to shoot, lynch or ban Ferber from ever entering the state again. In GIANT LOVE, Julie Gilbert writes of the internationally bestselling Ferber, one of the most widely read writers in the first half of the 20th century --- her evolution from mid-west maverick girl-reporter to Pulitzer Prize-winning, beloved American novelist, from her want-to-be actress days to becoming Broadway's acclaimed prize-winning playwright whose collaborators were, along with Ferber herself, the most successful playwrights of their time. Here is the making of an American classic novel and the film that followed in its wake.
Pantheon | 9781524748432

HAVOC by Christopher Bollen (Psychological Thriller)
Eighty-one-year-old widow Maggie Burkhardt came to the Royal Karnak to escape. But not in quite the same way as most other guests who are relaxing at this threadbare luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile. Maggie, a compulsive fixer of other people’s lives, may have found herself in hot water at her last hotel in Switzerland and just might have needed to get out of there fast. But here at the Royal Karnak, she has a handful of sympathetic friends, similar “long-termers” who understand her still-vivid grief for her late husband. One morning, however, Maggie notices a new arrival at check-in: a mournful-looking young mother named Tess and her impish eight-year-old, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie invites them into her world. But it isn’t long before Maggie realizes that she has let in an enemy much stronger than she bargained for.
Harper | 9780063378896

I MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE by Daniel Aleman (Fiction/Dark Humor)
A few years ago, David Alvarez had it all: a six-figure book deal, a loving boyfriend and an exciting writing career. His debut novel was a resounding success, which made the publication of his second book --- a total flop --- all the more devastating. Now, David is single and desperately trying to come up with the next great idea for his third manuscript. When David connects with a sexy stranger on a dating app, he figures a wild night out in New York City may be just what he needs to find inspiration. Lucky for him, his date turns out to be handsome, confident and wealthy. After one of the best nights of his life, David wakes up hungover but giddy --- only to find prince charming dead next to him in bed. He and his literary agent, Stacey, must untangle the events of the previous night, cover their tracks and spin the entire misadventure into David’s career-defining novel.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538766347

KINGDOM OF NO TOMORROW by Fabienne Josaphat (Historical Fiction)
Nettie Boileau joins the Black Panthers’ Free Health Clinics in Oakland in 1968 and is soon swept up in an all-consuming love affair with Melvin Mosley, a defense captain of the Black Panther Party. When Nettie and Melvin head to Chicago to help launch the Illinois chapter of the Panthers, they find themselves targets of J. Edgar Hoover’s famous covert campaigns against civil rights leaders. As she learns more about the inner workings of the Panthers, Nettie discovers that fighting for social justice may not always mean equal justice for women.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755885

THE LAST KILO: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America by T.J. English (True Crime)
Despite what Scarface might lead one to believe, violence was not the dominant characteristic of the cocaine business. It was corruption: the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges and politicians who made the drug world go round. And no one managed that carousel of dangerous players better than Willy Falcon. Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon, thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the US from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year. T. J. English has been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of Los Muchachos, sitting down with Willy Falcon and his associates for many lengthy interviews, and revealing never-before-understood details about drug trafficking.
William Morrow | 9780063265530

THE LAST ONE by Rachel Howzell Hall (Fantasy/Romance)
Thrown into a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts, Kai wakes in the woods with no idea who she is or how she got there. All she knows is that if she cannot reach the Sea of Devour, even this hellscape will get worse. But when she sees the village blacksmith fight invaders with unspeakable skill, she decides to accept his offer of help. Too bad he’s as skilled at annoying her as he is at fighting. As she searches for answers, Kai only finds more questions, especially regarding the blacksmith who can ignite her body like a flame, then douse it with ice in the next breath. And no one is what --- or who --- they appear to be in the kingdom of Vinevridth, including the man whose secrets might be as deadly as the land itself.
Entangled: Red Tower Books | 9781649374400

LOCKED IN: A Department Q Novel written by Jussi Adler-Olsen, translated by Caroline Waight (Mystery/Thriller)
On the day after Christmas, Detective Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, finds himself handcuffed in a police car headed for Copenhagen's Vestre prison. After 15 years, a violent case from his past has caught up with him. Charges of drug trafficking and murder threaten to destroy his life and career. But he is being framed. Someone has a million-dollar bounty on his head to make sure he doesn't talk, putting him in grave danger among the prison's incarcerated criminals and corrupt officers. Carl's colleagues at the Copenhagen Police Department instantly turn their backs on him, leaving the ever-loyal Department Q team as his only hope. In search of answers, Rose, Assad and Gordon must disobey direct orders from way up the chain to try to unravel the case. LOCKED IN is the 10th and final installment in Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series.
Dutton | 9780593475690

LOVE THE STRANGER: A Queens Mystery by Michael Sears (Mystery/Thriller)
Ted Molloy has hit his stride with a foreclosure investment scheme that brings him into contact with a cast of shady characters across New York’s most diverse borough. On the side, he helps his activist girlfriend, Kenzie, with her work to halt construction on “the Spike” --- a corporate-backed development project in Corona that would displace the largely immigrant communities surrounding it. Kenzie fends off smear campaigns and tours community spaces in Queens to spread the word, which she can do thanks to Mohammed, a recent Yemeni immigrant and most expedient cab driver. But when Kenzie learns that Mohammed’s immigration lawyer may be taking advantage of him financially, she decides to snoop around at the law offices --- and comes face to face with a dead body and a shadowy figure, fleeing the scene.
Soho Crime | 9781641295451

ONLY STARS KNOW THE MEANING OF SPACE: A Literary Mixtape by Rémy Ngamije (Fiction/Short Stories)
ONLY STARS KNOW THE MEANING OF SPACE is presented as a literary mixtape. The A-Side, read as one narrative, tells the story of a soon-to-be 30-year-old aspiring writer navigating a complicated world. The B-Side, taken as a separate experience, features (seemingly) independent and unrelated short stories. There’s “Crunchy, Green Apples (or, Omo),” a story about loss told by the strangest of narrative devices: a shopping list. “Sofa, So Good, Sort Of (or, John Muafangejo)” is a first-person account of a family’s history and a long journey towards hope. A group of friends attempts to navigate a recent breakup in “From the Lost City of Hurtlantis to the Streets of Helldorado (or, Franco).” When read together, however, a third world emerges --- a complex, intergenerational and interconnected world exploring the universal gaping void of grief.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668012468

PRIVATE RITES by Julia Armfield (Fiction)
Sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father, an architect as cruel as he was revered, dies. His death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will. The sisters are more estranged than ever, and their lives spin out of control. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.
Flatiron Books | 9781250344311

RAISED BY A SERIAL KILLER: Discovering the Truth About My Father by April Balascio (Memoir)
One evening in 2009, April Balascio was searching online, as she had been every night, for unsolved murders in the towns her family had lived growing up, when she stumbled across the latest investigations into the “Sweetheart Murders” cold case. All at once, the buried memories of her father’s dark history were awakened, and she knew she had to take action. She picked up the phone to call a detective, and the rest is infamous true-crime history. In RAISED BY A SERIAL KILLER, Balascio bravely reveals an astonishing tale of a lifetime of manipulation, unexplained upheavals and silent fear. Some part of her had always known what her father, Edward Wayne Edwards, was capable of, but the full truth of how she came to these revelations is as riveting as it is quietly terrifying.
Gallery Books | 9781982177034

RENTAL HOUSE by Weike Wang (Fiction)
Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection, while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife. Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?
Riverhead Books | 9780593545546

THE SECRET OF THE THREE FATES: A Ruby Vaughn Mystery by Jess Armstrong (Gothic/Historical Mystery)
American heiress Ruby Vaughn still hasn't entirely forgiven her octogenarian employer and housemate, Mr. Owen, for bringing the occult into their lives during her recent trip to Cornwall. He claims their journey to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders is simply to appraise and acquire illuminated manuscripts for their rare books shop. But when Ruby discovers there are no manuscripts and receives news of a séance to be held that very night, she begins to grow suspicious about the true reason why they have come. Mr. Owen is desperate to speak to his dead son, but he doesn’t want to face the spirits alone. When the séance --- hosted by a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates --- goes awry, Mr. Owen’s secrets begin to unravel. When Ruby finds one of the Three Fates murdered the night of the seance, she and Mr. Owen quickly become the prime suspects.
Minotaur Books | 9781250909886

THE SHADOWED LAND by Signe Pike (Historical Fiction)
Kingdom of Gododdin, AD 580: After defeating the Angles at the Battle of the Caledonian Wood, Languoreth, her daughter Angharad, brother Lailoken, and the warrior Artúr mac Aedan are reunited. But all too soon, fate pulls each back to their own path. Artúr receives a mysterious summons from his father in Dalriada. Languoreth and Lailoken return to Strathclyde with the dangerous former bishop Mungo in tow, determined to maintain the fragile peace between the Christians and the people of the Old Way. Meanwhile, Angharad must travel deep into the shadowed land of the Picts, hoping to become the initiate of Briochan, a druid who practices the secret Celtic art of summoning weather. As they rise to their destinies, they are pushed to impossible new frontiers as each must decide if they are willing to do what it takes to be the heroes their harrowing days demand.
Atria Books | 9781501191480

THE SHUTOUTS by Gabrielle Korn (Dystopian Fiction)
The year is 2041, and it's a dangerous time to be a woman driving across the United States alone. Deadly storms and uncontrollable wildfires are pummeling the country while political tensions are rising. But Kelly is on the road anyway; she desperately needs to get back to her daughter, who she left seven years ago for a cause that she's no longer sure she believes in. Almost 40 years later, another mother, Ava, and her daughter, Brook, are on the run as well, from the climate change relief program known as The Inside Project, where they've spent the past 22 years being treated as lab rats. When they encounter a woman from Ava’s past on the side of the highway, the three continue on in a journey that will take them into the depths of what remains of humanity out in the wilderness.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250323484

SISTER SNAKE by Amanda Lee Koe (Fiction)
Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim and using her charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret: once, they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang dynasty China. A thousand years later, their mysterious history is the only thing still binding them together. When Emerald experiences a violent encounter in Central Park and Su boards the next flight to New York, the two reach a tenuous reconciliation for the first time in decades. Su convinces Emerald to move to Singapore so she can keep an eye on her, but she soon begins to worry that Emerald’s irrepressible behavior will out them both.
Ecco | 9780063355064

STUART WOODS' GOLDEN HOUR: A Teddy Fay Novel Featuring Stone Barrington by Brett Battles (Thriller/Adventure)
Teddy Fay is ready to embark on the European press tour of Peter Barrington’s latest film, Storm’s Eye, when he receives an unexpected visit from Lance Cabot, director of the CIA. Several CIA agents have been turning up dead. The commonality? They were all part of a mission Teddy was involved in: Golden Hour. Lance wants Teddy to use his trip as a cover to investigate who is behind these killings. From Venice and Budapest to their last stop at a film festival in Berlin, Teddy must dodge excited fans, enamored women and a few too many assassins who seem dead set on tracking down Golden Hour agents. And if Teddy doesn’t work fast enough, his identity --- and life --- just might be the next target in the killer’s ruthless plot for revenge.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593331606

TOM CLANCY DEFENSE PROTOCOL: A Jack Ryan Novel by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Thriller/Adventure)
For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. New Chinese President Li Jian Jun has devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu knows how to stop Li’s mad and bloody plan for reunification. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West. To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she’s under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders’ plan for her father to exploit. President Jack Ryan needs Li’s secret plans from Qin so he can stave off a war.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593717974

TROUBLE ISLAND by Sharon Short (Historical Mystery)
Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to notorious Prohibition gangster Eddie McGee. Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her.
Minotaur Books | 9781250292841

THE VOYAGE HOME by Pat Barker (Historical Fiction)
THE VOYAGE HOME follows the young Ritsa and the unpredictable Cassandra on their perilous return journey to Mycenae. Cassandra has acquired the powers of prophecy from the kiss of Apollo, but the very same god has taken away the people’s belief in her abilities. Though she warns of the carnage that awaits the Greek warrior king Agamemnon --- who numbs himself with alcohol on the storm-plagued trip home --- her shipmates disregard her. While Cassandra’s prophecies fall on deaf ears, Ritsa instead remains focused on surviving once they make land. When a mysterious young girl begins to shadow them, and Agamemnon’s cruelty takes a new turn, Ritsa must find a safe place for Cassandra, whose mood alternates between cruelty and frenzy. But it’s the ongoing ire between Queen Clytemnestra and Agamemnon that could prove fatal for everyone.
Doubleday | 9780385549110

WHAT IT'S LIKE IN WORDS by Eliza Moss (Fiction)
Enola is approaching 30 and feels adrift in a way she thought she would have beaten by now. She wants to be a writer but can't finish a first draft; she romanticizes her childhood but won’t speak to her mother; she has never been in a serious relationship but yearns to be one-half of a couple that DIYs together during the weekends. Enter: enigmatic writer. Enola falls in love and starts to dream about their perfect future, but the reality is far from perfect. He is distant, hangs out with his ex and has dark moods. Her best friend begs her to end it, but she can’t. Enola might feel like she’s going crazy at times, but she wants him. She needs him. She would die without him. Over the next 24 hours (and two years), everything that Enola thinks she knows is about to unravel.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250355058

WOO WOO by Ella Baxter (Fiction)
WOO WOO follows Sabine, a conceptual artist on the verge of a photo exhibition she hopes will be pivotal, as she plunges deeper into her neuroses and seeks validation in relationships --- with her frustratingly rational chef husband, her horde of devoted Gen Z TikTok followers, and even a mysterious, potentially violent stalker. Accompanying her throughout are Sabine’s strange alter egos, from hyperrealistic puppets of her as a baby to the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann, who shows up with inscrutable yet sage life advice.
Catapult | 9781646222551

December 6th

WIND AND TRUTH: Book Five of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy/Adventure)
Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. But the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray. The former assassin Szeth must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons…and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar. At the same time, Shallan, Renarin and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiant killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos.
Tor Books | 9781250319180

On Sale the Week of December 2nd in Paperback

December 1st

THE SILENT WATCHER by Victor Methos (Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
Far from the neon glare of the Vegas Strip, attorney Piper Danes walks away from a hotshot law firm to work as a guardian ad litem (GAL). Piper was once a vulnerable youth herself, and a GAL gave her hope when she needed it most. Now she’s committed to paying it forward. Her latest case is unlike any other: 15-year-old Sophie Grace is the sole survivor of a gruesome family murder. Teaming up with the formidable Judge Hope Dawson and enigmatic Detective Lazarus Holloway, Piper delves into a world more sinister than she could have imagined. Their hunt for the truth leads to a serial killer known only as “the Creeper,” a predator who hides in the shadows. But as the team inches closer to unveiling the murderer, they find themselves in the crosshairs.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662516269

TRIAL BY AMBUSH: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth about the Case of Barbara Graham by Marcia Clark (True Crime)
Paperback Original
Unwanted and neglected from birth, Barbara Graham had to overcome the odds just to survive. Her record of petty crimes spoke to a life that constantly teetered on the brink of disaster. But in 1953, when a robbery spiraled out of control and escalated into a brutal murder, Barbara became the centerpiece of a media circus. Her beauty enraptured the press, and they were quick to portray her as a villainous femme fatale despite abundant evidence to the contrary --- a fiction the prosecution eagerly promoted. The frenzy of public interest and willful distortion paved a treacherous path for Barbara Graham. In TRIAL BY AMBUSH, Marcia Clark investigates the case, exposing the fallacies in the demonizing picture they painted and the critical evidence that was never revealed.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662515958

December 3rd

AIRPLANE MODE: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shahnaz Habib
(Cultural History/Travel Essays)
Tracing the power dynamics that underlie tourism, AIRPLANE MODE parses who gets to travel and who gets to write about the experience. All the while, Habib threads the historic but ever-evolving dynamics of travel into her personal history as a child on family vacations in India, an adult curious about the world, and an immigrant for whom round trips are an annual fact of life. Woven throughout the book are inviting and playful analyses of obvious and not-so-obvious travel artifacts: passports, carousels, bougainvilleas, guidebooks, trains, the idea of wanderlust itself. Together, they tell a subversive history of travel as a Euro-American mode of consumerism. But as any traveler knows, travel is more than that. As an immigrant whose loved ones live across continents, Habib takes a deeply curious and joyful look at a troubled and beloved activity.
Catapult | 9781646222391

BLUEBIRD DAY by Megan Tady (Fiction/Humor)
Paperback Original
Alpine skiing G.O.A.T. Claudine Potts and her daughter, Wylie, have been bred for gold medal glory. They’re skiing their way to fame, but this gilded future is cut short when a fall forces Claudine’s retirement and Wylie’s debilitating anxiety sends her off the slopes. With the collapse of their ski careers, their relationship falters, and now it’s been years since Wylie and Claudine have even spoken. They live on opposite coasts, pursuing different passions, until a chance opportunity to pair up in a European fitness competition drives them back together. Can this duo survive snow-buried regrets and family secrets and have the happy reunion they’re hoping for?
Zibby Books | 9781958506868

THE CURSE OF PENRYTH HALL: A Ruby Vaughn Mystery by Jess Armstrong (Historical/Gothic Mystery)
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and housemate in Exeter. She’s avoided dwelling on the past, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in 30 years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse.
Minotaur Books | 9781250886033

THE END OF THE WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC: Stories by Louise Kennedy
(Fiction/Short Stories)
In THE END OF THE WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC, women’s lives are etched by poverty --- material, emotional, sexual --- but also splashed by beauty, sometimes even joy, as they search for the good in the cards they’ve been dealt. A wife is abandoned by her new husband in a derelict housing estate, with blood on her hands. An expectant mother’s worst fears about her husband’s entanglement with a teenage girl are confirmed. A sister is tormented by visions of the man her brother murdered during the Troubles. A woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage.
Riverhead Books | 9780593540930

FACE OF GREED by James L'Etoile (Mystery/Thriller)
When a prominent Sacramento businessman is killed and his wife injured in a brutal home invasion, Detective Emily Hunter and her partner, Javier Medina, are called to investigate. At first glance, it seems like a crime of opportunity gone horribly wrong, but Emily soon finds there might be more to both the crime and the dead man. The high-stakes investigation also comes at a time when Emily is caring for her mother, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s, and Emily struggles to balance her job with her personal life. The city’s political elite seem to want the case solved quickly, but darker forces want it buried. Could there have been a motive behind the attack, making it more than a random home invasion? Emily uncovers clues that cause her to reconsider her understanding of the crime.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096336

THE FINAL CURTAIN by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
A decade ago, Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga went to collect the ashes of his recently deceased mother. Years before, she ran away from her husband and son without explanation or any further contact, only to die alone in an apartment far away. Now in Tokyo, Michiko Oshitani is found dead many miles from home. She lived far away in Sendai, with no known connection to Tokyo --- and neither her family nor her friends have any idea why she would have gone there. Hers is the second strangulation death in that approximate area of Tokyo. The other was a homeless man, killed and his body burned in a tent by the river. As the case unfolds, an unexpected connective emerges between the murder (or murders) now and the long-ago case of Detective Kaga's missing mother.
Minotaur Books | 9781250321169

A FIVE-LETTER WORD FOR LOVE by Amy James (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Twenty-seven-year-old Emily doesn’t have a lot going well in her life right now. She dreams of a creative career but works as a receptionist in an auto shop. She longs for big city life but lives in a small town on Prince Edward Island. She craves a close group of friends but is stuck with irritating, car-obsessed coworkers. What Emily does have is a 300+ day streak on the New York Times Wordle. But one day, with only one guess left and no clue what the answer is, she’s forced to turn to one of her irritating, car-obsessed coworkers, John, for help --- and in doing so, she realizes that he might not be so irritating after all. As they make their way, word by word, toward a 365-day streak, Emily is drawn into a surprising romance that will take her outside of her comfort zone.
Avon | 9780063399013

FLORES AND MISS PAULA by Melissa Rivero (Fiction)
Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It’s been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother’s handwriting: Perdóname si te falle. Recuerda que siempre te quise. (“Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.”) But what would Paula need forgiveness for? Now newfound doubts and old memories come flooding in, complicating each woman’s efforts to carve out a good life for herself and support the other in the same. When Flores and Paula learn they will be forced to move, they finally must confront their complicated past --- and decide if they share the same dreams for the future.
Ecco | 9780063272507

FRONT SIGHT: Three Swagger Novellas by Stephen Hunter (Political/Historical Thriller)
This collection of three interconnected novellas follows each generation of the iconic Swagger family. In “City of Meat,” Charles Swagger is on the hunt for notorious bank robber Baby Face Nelson when he traces a tip to the Chicago stock yards. While there, he’s brutally assaulted and discovers that the madman who attacked him is involved in a nearby narcotics ring. Earl Swagger investigates a violent bank robbery in “Johnny Tuesday” that left two dead and a fortune missing in small-town Maryland. At every turn, however, he’s met with silence and hostility from the townsfolk. Finally, in “Five Dolls for the Gut Hook,” a 32-year-old Bob Lee Swagger is back from Vietnam nearly broken over good men lost for nothing. But one afternoon he’s wakened from his nightmares by two men with a problem.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668030370

THE GREATEST LIE OF ALL by Jillian Cantor (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
Fledgling actress Amelia Grant is at rock bottom when offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to star in a biopic about the world-renowned romance author Gloria Diamond, who used her own tragic love story as inspiration for her bestselling books. To prepare for the role, she’ll spend a week with Gloria at her secluded Washington estate. It’s a chance to get out of LA, away from her cheating ex-boyfriend, and to make her recently deceased mother proud. However, Amelia’s excitement is short-lived once she actually meets Gloria, who is cold, verging on rude and mostly unavailable. If not for Gloria’s frustratingly handsome son, Will, the visit might be a complete waste of her time. But when Amelia stumbles upon a secret from Gloria’s past, she realizes that Gloria’s life story is more fiction than fact.
Park Row | 9780778310914

HERE IN THE DARK by Alexis Soloski (Psychological Thriller)
A former actress, Vivian Parry now works as the junior theater critic at a major Manhattan magazine. Her nights are spent beyond the lights, in a reserved seat, giving herself over to the shows she loves. By day, she savages them. Angling for a promotion, she reluctantly agrees to an interview, a conversation that reveals secrets she thought she had long since buried. Then her interviewer disappears, and she learns --- from his devastated fiancée --- that she was the last person to have seen him alive. When the police refuse to investigate, Vivian does what she promised herself she would never do again: she plays a part. Assuming the role of amateur detective, she turns her critical gaze toward an unsanitary private eye, a sketchy internet startup, a threatening financier, fake blood and one very real corpse.
Flatiron Books | 9781250883049

THE HUNTER by Tana French (Thriller)
It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die. Cal Hooper took early retirement from the Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.
Penguin Books | 9780593493458

THE INTERN by Michele Campbell (Legal Thriller)
Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother, Danny, has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case. When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her? As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250795250

JAMIE MacGILLIVRAY: The Renegade's Journey by John Sayles
(Historical Thriller/Adventure)
It begins in the highlands of Scotland in 1746, at the Battle of Culloden, the last desperate stand of the Stuart “pretender” to the throne of the Three Kingdoms, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and his rabidly loyal supporters. Vanquished with his comrades by the forces of the Hanoverian (and Protestant) British crown, the novel’s eponymous hero, Jamie MacGillivray, narrowly escapes a roadside execution only to be recaptured by the victors and shipped to Marshalsea Prison, where he cheats the hangman a second time before being sentenced to transportation and indentured servitude in colonial America "for the term of his natural life." His travels are paralleled by those of Jenny Ferguson, a poor village girl swept up on false charges by the English and also sent in chains to the New World.
Melville House | 9781685891428

MIDNIGHT by Amy McCulloch (Mystery/Thriller)
In the frigid summers of the Antarctic continent, the sun never sets, and Olivia Campbell has long dreamed of spending a sunlit night in this beautiful, remote place. So when her boyfriend --- a high-powered art dealer --- decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction aboard a luxury cruise liner to Antarctica, Olivia can hardly believe her luck. That is, until the ship sets sail and her boyfriend is nowhere to be found, and she is left to manage both the auction and her own creeping fear of the open ocean entirely alone. And as though that weren't enough, the first bodies turn up soon after. It seems like a terrible accident. But as the situation deteriorates, it soon becomes clear that there is real danger on board --- and the closest help is hundreds of miles away.
Vintage | 9780593315538

MY DARLING BOY by Helen Cooper (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
In a close-knit English village, Chrissy and Alice were once best friends. So were their sons, Leo and Robbie. Until the night Leo killed Robbie with a single, devastating punch. Now Leo has gone to prison, Chrissy has lost her pub, and Alice has been pouring her anger into a twisted project. As Leo’s parole date approaches, the villagers are incensed and fearful about the prospect of his return. But when Chrissy arrives to collect Leo from prison, he isn’t there. The staff tells her that he already has been released, but nobody knows where he’s gone. As the village closes ranks, Chrissy realizes her former friends are suspects in her son’s disappearance, not the least of whom is still-bitter Alice. Is Leo being punished for what happened that terrible night? Or do the answers lie further back, in a dark past none of them wants to revisit?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593719930

MY FAVORITE SCAR written by Nicolás Ferraro, translated by Mallory N. Craig-Kuhn (Noir Thriller)
Fifteen-year-old Ámbar has never known any parent other than her father, Víctor Mondragón, nor any life other than his. On any given Friday night, Ámbar longs to be at the arcade or a rock concert, but she’s more likely to be patching up Víctor’s latest bullet hole in a dingy motel or creating a new set of fake identities for the both of them. When a tattooed mercenary kills Víctor’s best friend and vows that Víctor is next, father and daughter set off on a joyride across Argentina in search of bloody retribution. But Ámbar’s growing pains hurt worse than her beloved sawed-off shotgun’s kickback as she begins to question the structure of her world. How much is her father not telling her? Could her life ever be different? And will she survive long enough to find out?
Soho Crime | 9781641296212

NORTHWOODS by Amy Pease (Mystery/Thriller)
Eli North is not okay. His drinking is getting worse by the day, his emotional wounds after a deployment to Afghanistan are as raw as ever, his marriage and career are over, and the only job he can hold down is with the local sheriff’s department. And that’s only because the sheriff is his mother --- and she’s overwhelmed with small town Shaky Lake’s dwindling budget and the fallout from the opioid epidemic. The Northwoods of Wisconsin may be a vacationer’s paradise, but amidst the fishing trips and campfires and Paul Bunyan festivals, something sinister is taking shape. When the body of a teenage boy is found in the lake, it sets in motion an investigation that leads Eli to a wealthy enclave with a violent past, a pharmaceutical salesman and a missing teenage girl.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668017272

OLD CRIMES: And Other Stories by Jill McCorkle (Fiction/Short Stories)
Beloved author Jill McCorkle offers an intimate look at the moments when a person’s life changes forever. A woman uses her hearing impairment as a way to guard herself from her husband’s commentary. A telephone lineman strains to communicate with his family even as he feels pushed aside in a digital world. And a young couple buys a confessional booth for fun, only to discover the cost of honesty. Moving and unforgettable, the stories in OLD CRIMES capture moments of great intensity, longing and affection.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755991

POOR DEER by Claire Oshetsky (Fiction)
Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend, Agnes, died. No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Margaret's mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget these unbearable memories, replacing them with imagined stories full of faith and magic that always end happily. Enter Poor Deer: a strange and formidable creature who winds her way uninvited into Margaret’s made-up tales. Poor Deer will not rest until Margaret faces the truth about her past and atones for her role in Agnes’ death.
Ecco | 9780063327672

THE PRICE YOU PAY: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller)
Lewis has helped Peter Ash out of more trouble than Peter cares to remember, so he doesn’t hesitate when Lewis asks for a favor in return. Lewis has left his criminal past behind, but he and Peter must drive into a blizzard to help a former associate. They learn that someone has stolen notebooks full of incriminating secrets about Lewis' long-ago crimes, and they realize the situation is much worse than they'd thought. To save Lewis’ wife and two boys, Lewis and Peter must find the notebooks. With Peter's longtime girlfriend, they begin the search --- facing ruthless and violent foes at each turn, including one powerful person who will stop at nothing for revenge. Will Lewis and Peter be able to keep that dark past buried? Or will they need to step into the darkness to save the people they love most?
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593540572

THE RIVALS by Jane Pek (Literary Mystery)
Paperback Original
Claudia Lin --- mystery novel superfan and, until recently, clichéd underemployed English major --- has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for chronically online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues have uncovered a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets. In the wake of a client’s sudden death, Claudia convinces his ex, an industry insider, to turn on his employer and feed the verifiers information about what the powerful dating platforms are really up to. But even as Claudia starts to get a feel for this new genre, she fears that her beloved older brother is unwittingly being drawn into the matchmakers’ deadly web.
Vintage | 9780593470152

ROLAND ROGERS ISN'T DEAD YET by Samantha Allen (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Adam Gallagher has knocked on thousands of doors. An ex-Mormon and almost-famous memoirist, he is used to sharing his life story with strangers. But this day, this house, is different. For it belongs to none other than Roland Rogers: Hollywood Hunk and soon-to-be author. Roland has a story to tell, a decades-old secret to spill, and he’s decided that Adam is just the guy to help him do it. Except there’s a problem. Roland Rogers is dead. Not in the metaphysical realm --- if he focuses, he can summon enough energy to communicate via the kitchen speaker --- but certainly in the physical, and he needs Adam to pen his story before his body is found frozen beneath the avalanche of snow that squashed it. That means one month, a hundred thousand words, no breaks. It isn’t long before Roland’s idea of what his book should be clashes with Adam’s vision for what it could be.
Zando | 9781638931539

SILENT SPRING REVOLUTION: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening by Douglas Brinkley (History)
In SILENT SPRING REVOLUTION, acclaimed presidential historian Douglas Brinkley pays tribute to those who combated the mauling of the natural world in the Long Sixties (1960-1973). Rachel Carson (a marine biologist and author), David Brower (director of the Sierra Club), Barry Commoner (an environmental justice advocate), Coretta Scott King (an antinuclear activist), Stewart Udall (the secretary of the interior), William O. Douglas (Supreme Court justice), Cesar Chavez (a labor organizer) and other crusaders are profiled with verve and insight.
Harper Perennial | 9780063212923

SONGS ON ENDLESS REPEAT: Essays and Outtakes by Anthony Veasna So (Essays/Fiction)
The late Anthony Veasna So’s debut story collection, AFTERPARTIES, was a landmark publication. And he was equally known for his comic, soulful essays, published in n+1, The New Yorker and The Millions. SONGS ON ENDLESS REPEAT gathers those essays together, along with previously unpublished fiction. Written with razor-sharp wit and an unflinching eye, the essays examine his youth in California, the lives of his refugee parents, his intimate friendships, loss, pop culture and more. And in linked fiction following three Cambodian American cousins who stand to inherit their late aunt’s illegitimate loan-sharking business, So explores community, grief and longing with inimitable humor and depth.
Ecco | 9780063049949

THINK TWICE by Harlan Coben (Thriller)
Three years ago, sports agent Myron Bolitar gave a eulogy at the funeral of his client, renowned basketball coach Greg Downing. Myron and Greg had history: initially as deeply personal rivals, and later as unexpected business associates. Myron made peace and moved on --- until now, when two federal agents walk into his office, demanding to know where Greg Downing is. According to the agents, Greg is still alive --- and has been placed at the scene of a double homicide, making him their main suspect. Shocked, Myron needs answers. Myron and Win, longtime friends and colleagues, set out to find the truth, but the more they discover about Greg, the more dangerous their world becomes.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538756331

THIS PLAGUE OF SOULS by Mike McCormack (Noir/Metaphysical Thriller)
Nealon returns from prison to his house in the West of Ireland to find it empty. No heat or light, no sign of his wife or child. It is as if the world has forgotten or erased him. Then he starts getting calls from a man who claims to know what's happened to his family --- a man who will tell Nealon all he needs to know in return for a single meeting. In a hotel lobby, in the shadow of an unfolding terrorist attack, Nealon and the man embark on a conversation shot through with secrets and evasions, a verbal game of cat and mouse that leaps from Nealon's past and childhood to the motives driving a series of international crimes launched against "a world so wretched it can only be redeemed by an act of revenge."
Soho Press | 9781641296243

UNDER LOCH AND KEY by Lana Ferguson (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Following the death of her father, Keyanna “Key” MacKay finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family and the strange powers she begins to develop. When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after --- and that she also might be the key to uncovering his.
Berkley | 9780593816851

WELCOME HOME, STRANGER by Kate Christensen (Fiction)
An environmental journalist in Washington, DC, Rachel has shunned her New England working-class family for years. Divorced and childless in her middle age, she’s a true independent spirit with the pain and experience to prove it. Coping with challenges large and small, she thinks her life is in free fall --- until she’s summoned home to deal with the aftermath of her mother’s death. Then things really fall apart. Surrounded by a cast of sometimes comic, sometimes heartbreakingly serious characters --- an arriviste sister, an alcoholic brother-in-law and, most importantly, the love of her life recently married to the sister’s best friend --- Rachel must come to terms with her past, the sorrow she has long buried, and the ghost of the mother who, for better and worse, made her the woman she is.
Harper Perennial | 9780063299719

THE WORLD WITH ITS MOUTH OPEN: Stories by Zahid Rafiq (Fiction/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
In 11 stories, THE WORLD WITH ITS MOUTH OPEN follows the inner lives of people in Kashmir as they walk the uncertain terrain of their days, fractured from years of war. From a shopkeeper’s encounter with a mannequin, to an expectant mother walking on a precarious road, to a young boy wavering between dreams and reality, to two dogs wandering the city, these stories weave in larger, devastating themes of loss, grief, violence, longing and injustice with the threads of smaller, everyday realities that confront the characters’ lives in profound ways. Although the stories circle the darker aspects of life, they are --- at the same time --- an attempt to run into life, into humor, into beauty, into another person who can offer refuge, if momentarily.
Tin House Books | 9781959030850

On Sale the Week of December 9th in Hardcover

December 10th

BOOKED FOR MURDER: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P.J. Nelson (Mystery)
Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, she's left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. When she arrives to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the backyard is set ablaze, and a late-night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn't leave immediately. But Madeline ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there's another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it's up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.
Minotaur Books | 9781250909954

THE GOOD BRIDE by Jen Marie Wiggins (Domestic Thriller)
One year after a devastating hurricane, bride-to-be Ruth Bancroft is marrying her perfect groom in a quaint fishing village on the Gulf Coast. The weekend is carefully curated, with the displays of pomp and social media magic meant to promote an area still struggling to rebuild as well as bring Ruth’s estranged family back together. Yet as good intentions often go, this road to wed is hell and paved in complications. With tensions rising between the family and the bridal party, long-buried secrets come to light, and accusations start flying. Things officially spiral out of control when the oceanfront rehearsal dinner is rocked by a series of gunshots, and a high-profile guest goes missing. As the investigation gets underway, it turns out that everyone has something to hide.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892420044

I MADE IT OUT OF CLAY by Beth Kander (Romantic Comedy/Magical Realism)
Nothing is going well for Eve: she’s single, turning 40, stressed at work and anxious about a recent series of increasingly creepy incidents. Most devastatingly, her beloved father died last year, and her family still won’t acknowledge their sorrow. With her younger sister’s wedding rapidly approaching, Eve is on the verge of panic. She can’t bear to attend the event alone. That’s when she recalls a strange story her Yiddish grandmother once told her, about a protector forged of desperation…and Eve, to her own shock, manages to create a golem. At first, everything seems great. The golem is indeed protective --- and also attractive. But when they head out to a rural summer camp for the family wedding, Eve’s lighthearted rom-com fantasy swiftly mudslides into something much darker.
Mira | 9780778368120

A MONSOON RISING: A Hurricane Wars Novel by Thea Guanzon (Fantasy/Romance)
After a lifetime of war, Alaric and Talasyn were thrust into an alliance between their homelands that was supposed to end the fighting. However, being married to their sworn foe feels far from peaceful. Now Talasyn must play the part of Alaric’s willing empress while her allies secretly plot to overthrow his reign. But the longer the couple are forced together, the harder it becomes to deny the feelings crackling like lightning between them. As the master of the Shadowforged Legion, Alaric has trained for battle all his life, but marrying a Lightweaver might be his most dangerous challenge yet. With tensions between nations churning, he needs to focus on the greater threat --- the Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic magical event that could devour everything. Only he and Talasyn can stop it. But saving their world from this disaster is a mere preface to his father’s more sinister schemes.
Harper Voyager | 9780063277304

THE REST IS MEMORY by Lily Tuck (Historical Fiction)
First glimpsed riding on the back of a boy’s motorcycle, 14-year-old Czeslawa comes to life in this mesmerizing novel by Lily Tuck, who imagines her upbringing in a small Polish village before her world imploded in late 1942. Stripped of her modest belongings, shorn, and tattooed number 26947 on arriving at Auschwitz, Czeslawa is then photographed. Three months later, she is dead. How did this happen to an ordinary Polish citizen? This is the question that Tuck grapples with in THE REST IS MEMORY, which frames Czeslawa’s story within the epic tragedy of six million Poles who perished during the German occupation.
Liveright | 9781324095729

On Sale the Week of December 9th in Paperback

December 10th

AGAIN AND AGAIN by Jonathan Evison (Fiction)
Eugene “Geno” Miles is living out his final days in a nursing home and struggling to connect with his new nursing assistant, Angel, who is understandably skeptical of Geno’s insistence on having lived not just one life but many --- all the way back to medieval Spain, where, as a petty thief, he first lucked upon true love only to lose it, and spend the next thousand years trying to recapture it. Who is Geno? A lonely old man clinging to his delusions and rehearsing his fantasies, or a legitimate anomaly, a thousand-year-old man who continues to search for the love he lost so long ago? As Angel comes to learn the truth about Geno, so, too, does the reader. As his miraculous story comes to a head, so does the biggest truth of all: that love --- timeless, often elusive --- is sometimes right in front of us.
Dutton | 9780593184165

THE DOOR-TO-DOOR BOOKSTORE by Carsten Henn (Fiction)
Small-town German bookseller Carl Kollhoff delivers his books to special customers in the evening hours after closing time, walking through the picturesque alleys of the city. These people are almost like friends to him, and he is their most important connection to the world. When Kollhoff unexpectedly loses his job, it takes the power of books and a nine-year-old girl to make them all find the courage to rebuild their bonds with each other.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335050090

THE FRENCH WINEMAKER’S DAUGHTER by Loretta Ellsworth (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1942. Seven-year-old Martine hides in an armoire when the Nazis come to take her father away. Pinned to her dress is a note with her aunt’s address in Paris, and in her arms is a bottle of wine she has been instructed to look after if something happened to her papa. But when Martine arrives in the city, her aunt is nowhere to be found. 1990. Charlotte, a commercial airline pilot, attends an auction with her boyfriend, Henri, at Hotel Drouot, now the oldest auction house in Paris. Successfully bidding on a box of wine saved from the German occupation during the Second World War, Henri gives Charlotte a seemingly inferior bottle he finds inside the box. Cleaning the label, Charlotte makes a shocking discovery that sends her on a quest to find the origins of this unusual --- and very valuable --- bottle of wine.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063371811

A GIANT WIN: Inside the New York Giants' Historic Upset Over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII by Tom Coughlin with Greg Hanlon (Sports)
In A GIANT WIN, Coach Tom Coughlin reveals the intricacies of football, sharing details only a coach would know. He also details relationships with some of the most iconic players from the Giants, including Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. The book provides a frame for Coach Coughlin to discuss his life in football --- including his years with the Giants as an assistant coach in the late 1980s and 1990, when he helped win a Super Bowl working under Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells and alongside the coach he’d oppose in Super Bowl XLII: Bill Belichick.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538724651

HOLMES, MARPLE & POE: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Thriller)
In New York City, three intriguing, smart and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts? Brendan Holmes (The Brain) identifies suspects via deduction and logic. Margaret Marple (The Eyes) possesses powers of observation too often underestimated. Auguste Poe (The Muscle) chases down every lead no matter how dangerous or dark. The agency’s daring methodology and headline-making solves attract the attention of NYPD Detective Helene Grey. Her solo investigation into her three unknowable competitors rivals the best mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710784

HOW TO GET A LIFE IN TEN DATES by Jenny L. Howe (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Dating as a plus-size woman has been exhausting for Haleigh Berkshire. It doesn't help that she's been madly in love with her best friend, Jack, for years. But one disastrous weekend in college taught her the hard way that they'll never be more than friends. With her sister's engagement celebration fast approaching, and her friends and family nagging her about a plus-one, Haleigh and Jack do what they do best: scheme. Haleigh agrees to let her friends and family set her up with 10 people --- and she's sure that, once none of them prove to be good matches, her loved ones will finally let her fade into romantic retirement in peace. To her surprise, some of Haleigh’s dates go better than expected, and she's actually having fun for the first time in forever. Until Jack starts breaking all the rules they’d made to mend their friendship in college.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250331465

IF I GO MISSING by Leslie Wolfe (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
I close the binder I’ve been writing in and walk into the living room. As I stare out of the window at your house next door, I think about all the things I stand to lose if someone comes for me. My handsome, loving husband, who has no idea what I’ve done. My family, who have supported me no matter what. This beautiful home near the ocean, where I thought I would be safe. Everyone says that I’m paranoid, but I just think I’m prepared. My secrets have placed me in terrible danger. So if the worst happens, this binder contains everything you’ll need to find me, hidden in a place only you could guess. You’ve always known me best of everyone, ever since we were girls. You’ll be able to put the pieces together and uncover the truth. Only you can find me. But you’ll need to do it fast. Because if you don’t, all your lies will come to light too.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538769539

IMPOSTER SYNDROME by Joseph Knox (Thriller)
Paperback Original
On the run from his shady past, Lynch has just arrived in London, still looking over his shoulder to make sure he isn't being followed. He runs into a young woman named Bobbie, who mistakes him for her brother, Heydon Pierce, who disappeared five years ago without a trace. At Bobbie's suggestion, Lynch goes to the Pierce family home, posing as Heydon to try and con some money out of them. Far from tricking them, his subterfuge is instantly discovered. He strikes the devil's bargain with them --- their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon. But Lynch's investigation goes too deep and uncovers the fact that Heydon Pierce was tangled up with some dangerous and powerful people in London. Everyone has their own motives to keep Heydon well buried in the past.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464219269

MURDER CROSSED HER MIND: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood (Historical Mystery)
Vera Bodine, an elderly shut-in with an exceptional memory, has gone missing, and famed detective Lillian Pentecost and her crackerjack assistant, Willowjean “Will” Parker, have been hired to track her down. But there’s no shortage of people who might like to get a hold of what’s in Bodine’s head. Does her disappearance have to do with the high-profile law firm whose secrets she still keeps; the violent murder of a young woman, with which Bodine had lately become obsessed; or is it the work she did with the FBI hunting Nazi spies intent on wartime sabotage? Any and all are on the suspect list, including their client, Forest Whitsun, hotshot defense attorney and no friend to Pentecost and Parker. The clock is ticking to get Bodine back alive, but circumstances conspire to pull both investigators away from the case.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard | 9780593469057

THE NEXT GRAVE by Kendra Elliot (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Detective Evan Bolton is gutted by his latest investigation. His friend and mentor, retired detective Rod McLeod, has been murdered, his body left in the trunk of a junkyard car. When McLeod’s daughter and grandson abruptly vanish, Evan knows it’s not a coincidence. Search-and-rescue canine specialist Rowan Wolff agrees as she and her dog, Thor, track the missing family. The two cases converge in a puzzling twist. Evan discovers that McLeod has been reinvestigating old crimes --- solved but not forgotten. Evan takes them on, one by one, and a disturbing suspicion forms that someone in law enforcement has something to hide and would do anything to keep those secrets buried. But Evan and Rowan’s time is slipping away. They have to find the killer now. Before someone else disappears. Before someone else dies.
Montlake | 9781662511875

NOT IN MY BOOK by Katie Holt (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Peruvian American Rosie leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her dream of making it in New York as a writer. But her plan is derailed when she ends up in class with her archnemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington --- an obnoxious, surly and gorgeous literary fiction writer. Rosie and Aiden regularly go to verbal battle in workshop until their professor reaches her breaking point. She allows them to stay in her class on one condition: they must cowrite a novel that blends their genres. The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and their manuscript-in-progress provides an outlet for them to confess their feelings --- and explore their attraction toward each other. But when they find themselves competing against each other for a potentially career-changing opportunity, the flames of old rivalry reignite.
Alcove Press | 9781639109753

WHAT THE WIFE KNEW by Darby Kane (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Dr. Richmond Dougherty is a renowned pediatric surgeon and an infamous tragedy survivor. He’s also very dead, thanks to a fall down the stairs. His neighbors angrily point a finger at the newest Ms. Dougherty, Addison. The sudden marriage to the mysterious young woman only lasted 97 days, and he’d had two suspicious “accidents” during that time. Now Addison is a very rich widow. As law enforcement starts to circle in on Addison and people in town become increasingly hostile, sides are chosen with Kathryn, wife number one and the mother of his children, leading the fray. Despite rising tensions, Addison is even more driven to forge ahead on the path she charted years ago. Determined at all costs to unravel Richmond’s legacy, she soon becomes a target --- with a shocking note left on her bedroom wall: You will pay.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063351967

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