April 29, 2025

April 29, 2025

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of April 28th and May 5th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our special contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com for MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH MURDER. This first entry in Colleen Cambridge’s mystery series, An American in Paris, is set in mid-century Paris and stars Julia Child’s fictional friend.

Be sure to enter by Wednesday, May 14th at noon ET for your chance to win one of 25 copies of the book. A FASHIONABLY FRENCH MURDER, the third An American in Paris mystery, released today. So for those who haven’t read the series yet, now is the perfect time to get started!

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Special Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Enter to Win One of 25 Copies of MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH MURDER by Colleen Cambridge

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, April 30th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Carley Fortune about her new novel, ONE GOLDEN SUMMER, a tender nostalgia-tinged love story about starting over, family, and an unforgettable summer.

Monday, May 5th at 5pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Natalie Jenner will discuss her new novel, AUSTEN AT SEA, in which two pairs of siblings --- who are devotees of Jane Austen --- find their lives transformed by a visit to England and Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother and keeper of a long-suppressed, secret legacy.

Monday, May 5th at 7:30pm ET: “Lisa Live”: Join Lisa Scottoline on Facebook every Monday night from May 5th through July 7th at 7:30pm ET. She will reveal her inspirations behind her upcoming novel, THE UNRAVELING OF JULIA, and show videos from her research trip to Tuscany. Then, on July 14th, join “Lisa Live” for her Virtual Publication Celebration.

And be sure to enter the Pre-Order Sweepstakes for THE UNRAVELING OF JULIA, where you have a chance to win prizes such as an iPad mini or the Grand Prize of a Gucci Mini Bag. Lisa will be giving away an exciting prize each week during her “Lisa Live” events, leading up to the book’s publication on July 15th.

Tuesday, May 6th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Jennifer Haigh for a live virtual event to discuss her latest novel, RABBIT MOON, which is April's B&N Book Club pick. Jennifer will be in conversation with Lexie Smyth, B&N's Fiction Category Manager.

Tuesday, May 6th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Save the date for a killer conversation with New York Times bestselling author Amy Tintera as she answers the most burning reader questions about her wildly popular “Good Morning America” Book Club pick, LISTEN FOR THE LIE.

On Sale the Week of April 28th in Hardcover

April 28th

25 ALIVE by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Thriller)
SFPD homicide detective Lindsay Boxer knows her way around a crime scene. But nothing can prepare her for the shock of recognition: the victim is Warren Jacobi, Lindsay’s one-time partner who rose to chief of police. A top investigator until the end, Jacobi managed to leave Lindsay a clue. Following a trail of evidence along the west coast, the Women’s Murder Club pledges to avenge Jacobi’s death before the killer can take another one of their own.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316569774

April 29th

THE AMALFI CURSE by Sarah Penner (Historical Fantasy/Adventure)
Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sun-soaked village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But she also is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon her arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work? As Haven searches for her father’s sunken treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman’s quest to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever.
Park Row | 9780778308003

BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG by Kylie Lee Baker (Supernatural Mystery/Horror)
Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train. Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can’t be sure what's real and what’s in her head. She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can't ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women. As Cora will soon learn, you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.
Mira | 9780778368458

COLD BURN: A National Parks Thriller by A. J. Landau (Thriller)
National Park Service investigator Michael Walker is battling smugglers stealing priceless artifacts when he’s dispatched to Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, where a team of scientists has gone missing. Meanwhile, in Florida’s Everglades National Park, FBI special investigator Gina Delgado traces the murder of an environmental science intern back to another U.S. Geological Survey team’s ongoing experiments that are decimating the fragile ecosystem. That is before she’s dispatched to the scene of a sunken U.S. nuclear submarine, the entire crew of which has been inexplicably killed. The connection between these disparate investigations lies in a deadly prehistoric organism, frozen for thousands of years in the ice until global warming brings it back to life in what could mean the death of all life on Earth.
Minotaur Books | 9781250877369

THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans (Fiction)
Throughout her life, Sybil Van Antwerp has used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past 10, Sybil sits down to write letters --- to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Crown | 9780593798430

A FASHIONABLY FRENCH MURDER: An American in Paris Mystery by Colleen Cambridge (Historical Mystery)
Fashion is returning to the forefront in Paris, as the somber hues of wartime are replaced by vibrant colors and ultra-feminine silhouettes, influenced by Christian Dior’s “New Look.” American expat Tabitha Knight and aspiring chef Julia Child join a friend for a private showing at an exclusive fashion atelier, Maison Lannet. The event goes well, but when Tabitha returns later that evening to search for a lost glove, she finds the lights still on --- and the couturier dead, strangled by a length of lace. The shop manager suspects that a jealous rival --- perhaps Dior himself --- committed the crime. Tabitha dismisses that idea, but when another body is found, it’s apparent that someone is targeting employees of Maison Lannet. It’s up to Tabitha to don her investigative hat and find answers before someone commits another fatal fashion faux pas.
Kensington | 9781496751195

THE FATE OF THE DAY: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 by Rick Atkinson (History)
The first 21 months of the American Revolution --- which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton --- was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force. Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king’s task is now far more complicated. Fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans. Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution.
Crown | 9780593799185

HOW TO SEAL YOUR OWN FATE by Kristen Perrin (Mystery)
Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown Estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about. 1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that killed most of Ford's family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident.
Dutton | 9780593474044

JULIE CHAN IS DEAD by Liann Zhang (Psychological Thriller)
Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier, finds herself thrust into the glamorous yet perilous world of her late twin sister, Chloe Van Huusen, a popular influencer. Separated at a young age, the identical twins were polar opposites and rarely spoke, except for one viral video that Chloe initiated. When Julie discovers Chloe’s lifeless body under mysterious circumstances, she seizes the chance to live the life she’s always envied. However, she soon realizes that Chloe’s seemingly picture-perfect life was anything but. Julie faces mounting challenges during a weeklong island retreat with Chloe’s exclusive group of influencer friends. As events spiral out of control, Julie uncovers the sinister forces that may have led to her sister’s demise and realizes she might be the next target.
Atria Books | 9781668067895

THE LILAC PEOPLE by Milo Todd (Historical Fiction)
In 1932 Berlin, a trans man named Bertie and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicenter of Berlin's thriving queer community. An employee of the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science, Bertie works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond. But everything changes when Hitler rises to power. The Institute is raided, the Eldorado is shuttered, and queer people are rounded up. Bertie barely escapes with his girlfriend, Sofie, to a nearby farm. There they take on the identities of an elderly couple and live for more than a decade in isolation. In the final days of the war, Bertie and Sofie find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still dressed in Holocaust prison clothes. They vow to protect him --- not from the Nazis, but from the Allied forces who are arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country.
Counterpoint | 9781640097032

A MIND OF HER OWN by Danielle Steel (Historical Fiction)
Alexandra Bouvier is born in Paris in 1900. At age 14, Alex’s comfortable life is upended as war erupts across Europe. Her parents follow their sense of duty to the front, performing triage at a field hospital and confronting the horrors of poison gas and trench warfare. The merciless fighting, coupled with the fast-spreading Spanish flu, wreaks havoc on the continent, as well as on Alex’s loved ones. By the time she is 18, she has suffered unimaginable losses. With her grandfather’s support, she attends the University of Chicago and decides to follow his footsteps into journalism. As a newspaper intern, she meets reporter Oliver Foster, who is covering the gang wars sparked by Prohibition. He too has known devastating loss, and the two are drawn to each other, though both fear any attachment. As it turns out, Alex has good reason to be cautious.
Delacorte Press | 9780593498705

THE MURDER MACHINE by Heather Graham (Technothriller)
This state-of-the-art smart home has everything: a next-generation entertainment system, an ultramodern kitchen where every appliance is online, and even a personal AI to control it all. Standing above its owner's lifeless body, FBI agent Jude Mackenzie is faced with the daunting task of discovering how the woman was killed by her own home. How do you catch a murderer that doesn't leave any fingerprints? Enter Special Agent Victoria Tennant, whose familiarity with cybercrime reveals the stark truth: a machine can only do what it's been directed to do. As the number of grisly "accidents" begins to rise, the pair must race to uncover the perpetrator, even as they find themselves caught in their digital crosshairs.
Mira | 9780778387411

MY NEXT BREATH: A Memoir by Jeremy Renner (Memoir)
Two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner was the second most googled person in 2023…and not for his impressive filmography. On New Year’s Day 2023, a 14,000-pound snowplow crushed him. Somehow able to keep breathing for more than half an hour, he was subsequently rushed to the ICU, after which he would face multiple surgeries and months of painful rehabilitation. In MY NEXT BREATH, Jeremy writes in blistering detail about his accident and the aftermath. This retelling is not merely a gruesome account of what happened to him; it’s a call to action and a forged companionship between reader and author as Jeremy recounts his recovery journey and reflects on the impact of his suffering.
Flatiron Books | 9781250383532

THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS by Annie Hartnett (Fiction/Dark Humor)
At 63 years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. He probably doesn’t have much time left as he’s had three heart attacks already. But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes that his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. So he decides to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back. Before he can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for --- a fresh shot at love and parenting --- but does he have the strength to do both those things again?
Ballantine Books | 9780593873441

SHOW, DON'T TELL: A Writer, Her Teacher, and the Power of Sharing Our Stories by Kristine Gasbarre (Memoir)
Mrs. Korthaus has always been ahead of her time --- an educator who inspired her students to dream bigger, think deeper, and live boldly. For decades, she led an English classroom with caring and conviction, but it’s not until she’s retired, and then fighting cancer, that she begins to share her story: long ago marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., building a corporate career, and overcoming heartbreak before “accidentally” becoming a teacher and forever shaping the lives of countless young adults --- including bestselling author Kristine Gasbarre. In SHOW, DON'T TELL, Kristine reflects on her 30-year friendship with this extraordinary teacher who shaped her life so significantly.
Worthy Books | 9781546008064

THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS by Chuck Wendig (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up --- and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy --- and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods.
Del Rey | 9780593156568

TOUGH LUCK by Sandra Dallas (Western)
After their mother dies, Haidie Richards and her younger brother, Boots, are put to work in an orphanage. Their father left four years earlier to find a gold mine in Colorado Territory, and since then he’s sent only three letters. Still, Haidie is certain that he is alive, has struck gold, and will soon send for them. But patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues, and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250352309

On Sale the Week of April 28th in Paperback

April 29th

ARKANGEL: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins (Thriller/Adventure)
The execution of a Vatican archivist within the shadow of the Kremlin exposes a conspiracy going back three centuries --- to the bloody era of the Russian Tsars. Before his murder, he manages to dispatch a coded message, a warning of a terrifying threat, one tied to a secret buried within the Golden Library of Tsars, a vast and treasured archive that had vanished into history. As combative forces race for the truth behind this death and alarming discovery, Sigma Force is summoned to aid in the search ---- not only for this missing trove of ancient books, but to follow a trail far into the Arctic, to search for the truth about a lost continent and a revelation that could ignite a global war. But Sigma Force has its own difficulties at home after an explosive attack on the National Mall --- one aimed at the heart of their covert agency --- has left them vulnerable and exposed.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062893178

BLUE RUIN by Hari Kunzru (Fiction)
Once, Jay was an artist. After graduating from art school in London, he was tipped for greatness, a promising career taking shape before him. That was not to happen. Now, undocumented in the United States, having survived COVID, he lives out of his car and barely makes a living as an essential worker, delivering groceries in a wealthy area of upstate New York. One day, as Jay attempts to make a delivery at a house surrounded by acres of woods, he is confronted by his destructive past: Alice, a former lover from his art school days, and the friend she left him for. Recognizing Jay’s dire circumstances, Alice invites him to stay on their property --- where an erratic gallery owner and his girlfriend are isolating as well --- setting in motion a reckoning that has been decades in the making.
Vintage | 9780593686980

CROW TALK by Eileen Garvin (Fiction)
Frankie O’Neill is a lonely ornithologist struggling to salvage her dissertation on the spotted owl following a rift with her advisor. Anne Ryan is an Irish musician far from home and family, raising her five-year-old son, Aiden, who refuses to speak. At Beauty Bay, a community of summer homes nestled on the shores of June Lake, most houses are shuttered for the fall. But Frankie returns to the rundown caretaker’s cottage that has been in the hardworking O'Neill family for generations. And Anne, in the wake of a tragedy, has fled to the neighboring house, which is owned by her husband's wealthy family. When Frankie finds an injured baby crow in the forest, little does she realize that the charming bird will bring all three lost souls together on a journey toward hope, healing and rediscovering joy.
Dutton | 9780593473894

THE DEEPEST LAKE by Andromeda Romano-Lax (Psychological Thriller)
Rose, the mother of aspiring writer Jules, has waited three months for answers about her daughter’s death. Why was she swimming alone when she feared the water? Why did she stop texting days before she was last seen? When the official investigation rules the death an accidental drowning, an unsatisfied Rose travels to the memoir-writing workshop herself. She hopes to draw her own conclusion and find closure. When Rose arrives, she is swept into the curious world created by her daughter’s literary hero, the famous writing teacher Eva Marshall, a charismatic woman known for her candid --- and controversial --- memoirs. As Rose uncovers details about the days leading up to Jules’ disappearance, she begins to suspect that this glamorous retreat package is hiding ugly truths.
Soho Crime | 9781641296779

EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES by Catherine Mack
(Mystery/Humor)
All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next installment of her Vacation Mysteries series. Is that too much to ask? Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life --- the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with 10 years ago and now can't get out of her life --- Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case. Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker --- and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly --- theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?
Minotaur Books | 9781250325877

EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander (Thriller)
Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve --- events known to the public as "Scarlet Christmas" --- though Charlie knows she was much more than that. Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She's the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everything she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in nine years. Now, she's not going to let anything --- not even the people she once loved most --- get in her way.
Minotaur Books | 9781250890863

THE GHOST WOODS by C. J. Cooke (Supernatural Thriller/Gothic Horror)
Paperback Original
In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore --- old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child. Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds --- and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew --- and risk what she holds most dear.
Berkley | 9780593550229

A HAPPIER LIFE by Kristy Woodson Harvey (Fiction)
Present Day: Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market, she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about her grandparents, who died in a car accident before she was born. 1976: After meeting her husband, Townsend, Rebecca “Becks” Saint James abandoned the life she knew and never looked back. Forty years later, she’s made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. But she’s struggling behind the façade. As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes and dreams of the women in their family for generations.
Gallery Books | 9781668012208

LONG TIME GONE by Charlie Donlea (Noir Mystery/Thriller)
On the first day of an elite two-year fellowship, Sloan Hastings receives a research assignment in the emerging field of forensic genealogy. When she enthusiastically begins her research by submitting her own DNA to an online genealogy site, the results she receives are shocking. Sloane’s DNA profile suggests her true identity is that of Charlotte Margolis, aka “Baby Charlotte,” who captured the nation’s attention when she and her affluent parents mysteriously vanished. There were never any suspects in the family’s disappearance, and the case has been cold for decades. Sloan’s search for answers leads her to Cedar Creek, Nevada, a small town north of Lake Tahoe. Her birth relatives are mysterious and tight-lipped, and not everyone seems happy about her return or the questions she’s asking.
Kensington | 9781496751140

THE LOST COAST by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (Mystery/Thriller)
Cut loose from his former life at the coroner’s office, Clay Edison has set up shop as a private investigator. It’s steady, safe work. Until it isn’t. The trouble begins when a young man, tasked with managing his grandmother’s estate, hires Clay to examine some minor financial discrepancies. What starts off as a case of simple fraud rapidly explodes into a web of deception, an elaborate con game stretching back decades and involving countless victims. All the evidence points to a tiny town on California’s rugged, remote Lost Coast. Good luck getting there, though. Clay’s reward for surviving the journey is a trigger-happy welcoming committee, ready to guard their secrets with lethal force. The price of truth will turn out to be higher --- and deadlier --- than he could have imagined.
Ballantine Books | 9780525620167

LOVERS AND LIARS by Amanda Eyre Ward (Fiction)
Once upon a time, the Peacock sisters were little girls who combed each other’s tangled hair. But decades of secrets have led them to separate lives --- and to telling lies. Sylvie, a librarian and widow, has caught the attention of Simon Rampling, a mysterious, wealthy man. She’s ready to love again. Or is she? Cleo, a successful criminal defense lawyer with the perfect boyfriend, is immediately suspicious of Simon. She heads to Mumberton Castle telling herself she will expose Simon and save her sister from more heartbreak. But who is she really trying to save? Emma is living a lie. She can’t afford this fancy trip --- and she definitely can’t tell her husband and sons why. When their toxic mother shows up, the sisters assume the roles they fell into to survive their childhood. But they just might find the courage to make new choices.
Ballantine Books | 9780593500316

THE MANICURIST’S DAUGHTER: A Memoir by Susan Lieu (Memoir)
Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susan Lieu’s family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, Susan’s mother set up two successful nail salons and orchestrated every success --- until Susan was 11. That year, her mother died from a botched tummy tuck. For the next 20 years, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions alone: Why did the most perfect person in her life want to change her body? Why would no one tell her about her mother’s life in Vietnam? And how did this surgeon, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants, go on operating after her mother’s death? Sifting through depositions, tracking down the surgeon’s family, and enlisting the help of spirit channelers, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself and the impossible ideal of beauty.
Celadon Books | 9781250835055

MY BEST FRIEND’S HONEYMOON by Meryl Wilsner (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Elsie Hoffman has been engaged to her college boyfriend for a year and a half. Ginny Holtz has been in love with Elsie for almost a decade and a half. When Elsie discovers that her fiancé already planned their wedding and honeymoon as a surprise and she’s expected to be in a white dress in seven days, she swiftly realizes she’s let herself become too comfortable with a future she never wanted. She breaks things off, and a week later she is on a plane to the Caribbean for her non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend, Ginny, instead. Ginny thinks it’s high time that Elsie learned how to speak up for herself. So they make a deal with her. For the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants as long as she asks. They never expected Elsie to want them. But what happens when the honeymoon is over?
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250873323

THE REAPER FOLLOWS by Heather Graham (Romantic Suspense)
Deep in the Florida Everglades, the body of a woman is discovered in pieces, presumably ravaged by an alligator. Upon closer inspection, it’s determined no animal could make such perfectly precise cuts. Only a blade could do that. Soon, dozens of oil drums emerge amid the river of grass, each one packed to the brim with body parts. FDLE special agent Amy Larson and her partner, FBI special agent Hunter Forrest, have seen this kind of sadistic killing before. And when a small beige horse is discovered at the bottom of one of the barrels, they know exactly what it means. The fourth horseman of the apocalypse rides a pale horse --- and his name is Death. With so many bodies to identify, connecting one victim to the next is easier said than done.
Mira | 9780778368540

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt (Fiction)
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her 18-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over 30 years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors --- until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now he must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
Ecco | 9780063204164

SHADOW OF DOUBT by Brad Thor (Political Thriller)
A mysterious cargo plane, flanked by a squadron of Russia’s most lethal fighters, has just taken off from a remote airbase. Closely monitored by the United States, no one inside the Pentagon has any idea where it’s going or what it’s carrying. A high-level Russian defector, a walking vault of secrets that could shatter the West, seeks asylum in Norway. Across the continent, in the heart of Paris, a lone French agent stumbles upon a conspiracy so explosive it could ignite a global firestorm. As alarm bells ring in Washington, the CIA’s most lethal weapon, Scot Harvath, is forced to choose between his conscience and his country.
Pocket Books | 9781982182243

THE SUMMER PACT by Emily Giffin (Fiction)
Four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds: Lainey, a California party girl with a flair for drama; Tyson, a brilliant scholar and an aspiring lawyer from Washington, D.C.; Summer, an ambitious, recruited athlete from the Midwest; and Hannah, a mild-mannered southerner. Soon after arriving on campus, they strike up a conversation in their shared dorm. As their college years fly by, the four become inseparable. But as graduation nears, their lives are forever changed after a desperate act leads to tragic consequences. They make a pact, promising to always be there for one another. Ten years later, Hannah is anticipating what should be one of the happiest moments of her life when everything is suddenly turned upside down. Calling on her closest friends, it soon becomes clear that they are all facing their own crossroads.
Ballantine Books | 9780593600313

THINGS DON’T BREAK ON THEIR OWN by Sarah Easter Collins
(Literary Thriller/Mystery)
Twenty-five years ago, a young girl left home to walk to school. Her younger sister soon followed. But one of them arrived, and one of them didn’t. Her sister’s disappearance has defined Willa’s life. Everyone thinks her sister is dead, but Willa knows she isn’t. Because there are some things that only sisters know about each other --- and some bonds only sisters can break. Willa sees fragments of her sister everywhere. If there’s the slightest resemblance, she drops everything, and everyone, and tries to see if it's her. When Willa is invited to a dinner party thrown by her first love, she has no reason to expect it will be anything other than an ordinary evening. But nothing about her life has been ordinary since the day her sister disappeared, and that’s not about to change tonight.
Crown | 9780593798355

THE TWILIGHT GARDEN by Sara Nisha Adams (Fiction)
In a small pocket of London, between the houses of Number 77 and Number 79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was once a beautiful thing, but now it’s overgrown and neglected. Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at Number 79 likes it --- anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago --- vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. The seed of an idea is planted. Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063025332

VILLAGE WEAVERS by Myriam J. A. Chancy (Fiction)
In 1940s Port-au-Prince, Gertie and Sisi become fast childhood friends, despite being on opposite ends of the social and economic ladder. As young girls, they build their unlikely friendship --- until a deathbed revelation ripples through their families and tears them apart. After François Duvalier’s rule turns deadly in the 1950s, Sisi moves to Paris, while Gertie marries into a wealthy Dominican family. Across decades and continents, through personal success and failures, they are parted and reunited, slowly learning the truth of their singular relationship. Finally, six decades later, with both women in the United States, a sudden phone call brings them back together once more to reckon with and --- perhaps --- forgive the past.
Tin House Books | 9781963108071

WHAT WILD WOMEN DO by Karma Brown (Fiction)
To get a break from a stalled career as a Hollywood screenwriter, Rowan retreats to an isolated cabin in the Adirondacks with her fiancé, Seth. There in the wilderness, Rowan finds herself drawn to a local mystery --- that of the infamous socialite-turned-feminist-crusader Eddie Callaway, who vanished in the same woods 40 years earlier and was never heard from again. A handbook found in the abandoned ruins of the Callaway camp gives Rowan a glimpse into who Eddie was --- until a fateful discovery begins to unravel what might have happened to her. As Rowan draws closer to the truth, she realizes that the past, and the Adirondacks woods, may hold two keys: one that reveals what really happened to Eddie Callaway and another that unlocks a future beyond her wildest imagination.
Dutton | 9780593186374

May 1st

THE BEST WE COULD HOPE FOR by Nicola Kraus (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Bunny Linden abandons her three children with her older sister, Jayne, in 1972, she knows Jayne will be the perfect mother. As months turn into years without word, Jayne and her husband, Rodger, strive to give the children the opportunity to flourish and feel loved. When Jayne and Rodger finally have a child of their own, a seemingly stable home is built. But then, after nearly a decade, Bunny resurfaces and sets a chain of events in motion that detonates all their lives. As adults, their children try to reassemble the pieces and solve the mystery that has always haunted them. Who were their parents? What really happened between them? And who is ultimately to blame for the destruction? But will the answers they seek set them free --- or lead to something far more damaging than anyone imagined?
Little A | 9781662522659

WHEN STARS ALIGN by Melissa de la Cruz (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Best friends Miranda Montana, Germaine St. Germaine-Chang and Sicily Bell were the darlings of Hollywood. Now Miranda, the wild-child movie star, drifts from rehab to dead-end relationships as she tries for a comeback from a very public fall from grace. Germaine, the daughter of billionaire hotel moguls, has lost her purpose. And then there’s Sicily, the all-American pop star who had a record deal, sold-out concerts, and controlling parents who squeezed the very life out of her. After a decade, fate reconnects these three young women for a long-awaited confrontation with the secrets, betrayals, heartbreak and family traumas of the past. Settling old scores is just the beginning. It’s also time to repair the damage done and to hold fast to the most galvanizing success of their lives: their friendship.
Mindy's Book Studio | 9781662526534

On Sale the Week of May 5th in Hardcover

May 6th

ALL THE MOTHERS by Domenica Ruta (Fiction)
Sandy thought she was making her greatest mistake yet when she got unexpectedly pregnant in her mid-30s by a dating-app flop. Now, her baby Rosie is the love of her life. But trying to co-parent with her daughter’s dad, a wannabe rock star, is a challenge --- and seems to be veering into catastrophe territory when Sandy finds out through social media that her daughter has a half-sibling Sandy doesn’t know anything about. Enter her ex’s ex, Stephanie, the other mother. When the two women meet, they are shocked to learn how much they have in common. Now Sandy needs to figure out what her and Rosie’s family looks like with all these new additions. Could life in a “mommune” be the answer to her prayers, or just a new brand of chaos?
Random House | 9780593734056

AUSTEN AT SEA by Natalie Jenner (Historical Fiction)
Inspired by the works of Jane Austen, sisters Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to visit him in England. In Philadelphia, brothers Nicholas and Haslett Nelson are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them to England with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated. On the ship with the Stevenson sisters and the Nelson brothers are writer Louisa May Alcott; Sara-Beth Gleason, the wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator; and Justice Thomas Nash. It's a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250349590

THE CHILDREN OF EVE: A Charlie Parker Novel by John Connolly (Supernatural Thriller)
Wyatt Riggins, the boyfriend of rising Maine artist Zetta Nadeau, has gone missing, leaving behind a cell phone containing a single-word message: RUN. Private investigator Charlie Parker is hired to find out why Riggins has fled, and from whom. Parker discovers that Riggins, an ex-soldier, has been involved in the abduction of four children from Mexico, all belonging to the cartel boss Blas Urrea --- except Urrea’s family is safe and well in Mexico, which means the abductees cannot be his children. Yet whoever they are, Urrea wants them back and has dispatched his agents to secure them, even if it means butchering everyone who stands in their way. Every child has a mother. Now Parker will face one unlike any other and learn the terrifying truth about the Children of Eve.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668083949

THE END IS THE BEGINNING: A Personal History of My Mother by Jill Bialosky (Memoir)
When Iris Yvonne Bialosky died in an assisted care facility on March 29, 2020, it unleashed a torrent of emotions in her daughter, Jill Bialosky. Grief, of course, but also guilt, confusion and doubt, all of which were compounded by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it impossible for Jill to be with her mother as she was dying and to attend her mother’s funeral. Starting with her mother’s end and the physical/cognitive decline that led her to a care home, THE END IS THE BEGINNING explores Iris’ battle with depression, the tragedy of a daughter’s suicide, a failed second marriage, the death of her beloved first husband only five years into their young marriage, her joyful teenage years, and the trauma of losing her own mother at just eight years old.
Washington Square Press | 9781451677928

HOME OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS by Allison Larkin (Fiction)
After an emergency leaves her short on rent, 30-year-old Freya Arnalds bails on her lackluster life as bartender in Maine and returns to her suburban hometown of Somers, New York, to live in the house she inherited from her estranged parents. Despite attempts to lay low, Freya encounters childhood friends, familial enemies and old flames --- as well as her 15-year-old niece, Aubrey, who is secretly living in the derelict home. As they reconnect, Freya and Aubrey lean on each other, working to restore the house and come to terms with the devastating events that pulled them apart years ago.
Gallery Books | 9781668008416

I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING: A Memoir by Keith McNally (Memoir)
I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING is a memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern and Morandi. Keith McNally takes us from his gritty London childhood in the ’50s to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg and Nell’s. Eloquent and opinionated, McNally writes about the angst of being a child actor, his lack of insights from traveling overland to Kathmandu at 19, the instability of his two marriages and family relationships, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety.
Gallery Books | 9781668017647

I WILL BLOSSOM ANYWAY by Disha Bose (Fiction)
The third of four children born to a middle-class Calcutta family, quiet Durga is surprisingly the first to leave the nest of her loving, overbearing family. But when she arrives in Ireland to work at a tech company, she finds that for the first time ever she is free --- to have fun, to stay out, to sample everything that life has to offer. Suddenly, Durga can be whoever she wants to be. And she wants it all. But freedom comes at a price. Durga falls in love with handsome, charismatic Jacob and grows close with his sister, Joy. But when Jacob breaks up with Durga, she’s unmoored. Will she stay in Ireland with her newfound identity and livelihood, or will she return to India, where she is comfortable? Perhaps neither option is enough.
Ballantine Books | 9780593875322

LESSONS FROM MY TEACHERS: From Preschool to the Present by Sarah Ruhl (Memoir/Essays)
Based on her popular class at Yale, Sarah Ruhl’s essay collection is a testament to the singular impact of teachers across every stage of our lives. Drawing on Sarah’s experiences with her parents and children, with schoolteachers, creative influences and beyond, LESSONS FROM MY TEACHERS offers an uplifting perspective on our basic human need to teach and learn from each other as we navigate the surprising paths that shape our lives. Meant to be shared with loved ones and role models alike, and perfect for marking important seasons and milestones, the book provides an opportunity to reflect on the human connection between teacher and student and the times in which we ourselves have assumed each role.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781668034965

THE MANOR OF DREAMS by Christina Li (Gothic Fiction)
Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the ’80s, only to disappear from the spotlight to live out the rest of her life as a recluse. Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will, and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood home: Vivian’s grand, sprawling, Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead --- one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement. In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. As Vivian’s daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother’s life, disturbing visions and bizarre behaviors start to take hold of everyone in the house.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668051726

THE MISSING HALF by Ashley Flowers with Alex Kiester (Mystery/Thriller)
At 24, Nicole “Nic” Monroe lives alone in a dinky apartment in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, she’s just gotten a DWI, and she works the same dead-end job she’s been working since high school. Everyone has felt sorry for her for the last seven years --- since the day her older sister, Kasey, vanished without a trace. The only real clue in her disappearance was Jules Connor, another young woman from the same area who disappeared in the same way, two weeks earlier. But with so little for the police to go on, both cases eventually went cold. Nic wants nothing more than to move on from her sister’s disappearance and the state in which it has left her. But then one day, Jules’ sister, Jenna Connor, walks into Nic’s life and offers her something she hasn’t felt in a long time: hope.
Bantam | 9780593726983

MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman (Fiction)
Most people don’t even notice them --- three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that unexpectedly will be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it.
Atria Books | 9781982112820

MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE by Isabel Allende (Historical Fiction)
In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. At the age of 17, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan. As Emilia proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. While there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie.
Ballantine Books | 9780593975091

THE NAMES by Florence Knapp (Fiction)
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she'd like to call the child, Cora hesitates. Spanning 35 years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and her young son's lives, shaped by her choice of name. THE NAMES explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593833902

THE NIGHT BIRDS by Christopher Golden (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
After their love ended in heartbreak years ago, Charlie Book and Ruby Cahill never expected to see each other again. Now, as part of his work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Book lives aboard the Christabel, a 19th-century freighter half-sunken off the shore of Galveston. But when he arrives at the dock, he’s stunned to find Ruby there waiting for him. With her are a mysterious woman and her infant child, asking Book to hide them safely aboard the Christabel while they're on the run. Only it isn’t the police who are after them. It’s a coven of witches that the woman, Mae, has fled, stealing away the helpless infant for whom the coven had hideous plans…or so Mae claims.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250285911

OLD SCHOOL INDIAN by Aaron John Curtis (Fiction)
Abe Jacobs is Kanien’kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne --- or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At 18, Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now 43, Abe is suffering from a rare disease that his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he’s persuaded to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But Budge --- a wry, recovered alcoholic --- isn’t all that convincing. And Abe’s time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic. To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he’s hidden ever since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even at his darkest hour.
Zando – Hillman Grad Books | 9781638931454

THE ONES WE LOVE by Anna Snoekstra (Domestic Thriller)
Since the weekend of the party --- the one that 22-year-old Liv can’t remember, the one that left her covered in bruises --- she’s been locked out of her bedroom by a padlock. Her parents are behaving oddly, and her best friend won’t respond to her texts. Maybe she really was out of control that night? Meanwhile, her father, Janus, is not sure he can do what is necessary to keep this secret hidden. Her brother, Casper, was away that weekend, but he knows something isn’t right. His parents don’t look each other in the eye anymore. His father’s hands tremble for no reason. And where does Liv keep disappearing to in the middle of the night? Casper decides to find out what no one will tell him about that weekend. What lies behind the padlocked door?
Dutton | 9780593475720

THE ORIGINAL DAUGHTER by Jemimah Wei (Fiction)
Living with her parents and grandmother in a single-room flat in working-class Bedok, Genevieve Yang is saddled with an unexpected sibling when Arin appears. As the two girls grow closer, they must navigate the intensity of life in a place where the urgent insistence on achievement demands constant sacrifice. Knowing that failure is not an option, the sisters learn to depend entirely on one another in pursuit of academic perfection and passage to a better future. When a stinging betrayal violently estranges Genevieve and Arin, Genevieve must weigh the value of ambition versus familial love, home versus the outside world, and allegiance to herself versus allegiance to the people who made her who she is.
Doubleday | 9780385551014

OVERGROWTH by Mira Grant (Science Fiction/Horror)
Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her. Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250768230

PARENTS WEEKEND by Alex Finlay (Psychological Thriller)
In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids --- five residents of Campisi Hall --- never show up at dinner. As the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix and Stella --- The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers and TikTok sleuths call them --- come from five very different families. What led them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers that have come to cause them peril, or a threat to the friend group from within?
Minotaur Books | 9781250360724

SHOPGIRLS by Jessica Anya Blau (Fiction)
Nineteen-year-old Zippy is the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin, “San Francisco’s Finest Department Store.” For a girl who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store with her mother and her mother’s madcap boyfriend, Howard, and who wanted to go to college but had no help in figuring out how, I. Magnin represents a real chance for a better and more elegant life. Or, at the very least, a more interesting one. Zippy may not be in school, but she’s about to get an education that will stick with her for decades. However, just when she thinks she’s getting a handle on how to be an adult woman in 1985, two surprises threaten both her sense of self and her coveted position at I. Magnin.
Mariner Books | 9780063052352

SOUTH OF NOWHERE: A Colter Shaw Novel by Jeffery Deaver (Thriller)
When a levee collapses in Hinowah, a small town in Northern California, Colter Shaw is brought on by his sister, Dorion, a disaster response specialist, to help locate a family swept away by the raging water, with mere hours to survive. But after a surprise attack along the river obstructs Colter's urgent search, the siblings are forced to consider a new reality: Is the levee at risk of failing from natural causes, or is someone sabotaging it? Colter and Dorion must race against a ticking clock to uncover the truth and save the citizens before the village washes out completely, destroying everything and everyone in its path.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593717493

SPITFIRES: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II by Becky Aikman (History)
They were crop dusters and debutantes, college girls and performers in flying circuses --- all of them trained as pilots. Because they were women, they were denied the opportunity to fly for their country when the United States entered the Second World War. But Great Britain, desperately fighting for survival, would let anyone transport warplanes. Thus, 25 daring young aviators bolted for England in 1942, becoming the first American women to command military aircraft. In SPITFIRES, Becky Aikman follows the stories of nine of the women who served, drawing on unpublished diaries, letters and records, along with her own interviews, to bring these forgotten heroines fully to life.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635576566

THIS IS YOUR MOTHER: A Memoir by Erika J. Simpson (Memoir)
When Erika Simpson was growing up, her mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers and the middle child of 10, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way, a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika’s own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony --- which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors. But where does a mother’s story end and a daughter’s begin? In THIS IS YOUR MOTHER, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed.
Scribner | 9781668024034

TWELVE POST-WAR TALES by Graham Swift (Historical Fiction/Short Stories)
Here are the soldiers and doctors and veterans, wives and lovers and children, who have been affected in ways both subtle and profound by the cataclysms of our times. In the aftermath of World War II, a young Jewish private, stationed in Germany, seeks the truth about lost family members. In the 1960s, a father focuses on his daughter’s wedding even as the Cuban Missile Crisis approaches the brink of global disaster. On September 11th, a maid working for U.S. Embassy staff in London wonders if her birth on the day of the Kennedy assassination determined the course of her life. And at the height of the pandemic lockdown, a respiratory disease specialist comes out of retirement and is faced with a formative childhood memory.
Knopf | 9780593803387

THE WANDERER'S CURSE: A Memoir by Jennifer Hope Choi (Memoir)
When Jennifer Hope Choi first stumbled upon the “curse” known as yeokmasal --- an allegedly inheritable affliction causing one to roam farther and farther from home --- she immediately consulted her mother. “Oh yeah,” Umma quipped. “I have that.” Technically this wasn’t a revelation. Since 2007, the no-nonsense open-heart surgery nurse had moved suddenly from the Golden State to the Last Frontier, shuttling over the next decade through seven states. For much of her adulthood, Choi had fancied herself nothing like her immigrant mother --- until life in Brooklyn imploded, spurring her to relocate to South Carolina and reckon with startling truths. This probing memoir follows Choi through her many former homes, from a crumbling Chinatown tenement to a haunted museum in Georgia.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324035510

WARHOL'S MUSES: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine by Laurence Leamer (Biography)
“Now and then, someone would accuse me of being evil,” Andy Warhol confessed, “of letting people destroy themselves while I watched, just so I could film them.” Obsessed with celebrity, the silver-wigged artistic icon created an ever-evolving entourage of stunning women he dubbed his “Superstars” --- Baby Jane Holzer, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Ultra Violet, Viva, Brigid Berlin, Ingrid Superstar, International Velvet, Mary Woronov and Candy Darling. He gave several of them new names and manipulated their beauty and talent for his art and social status with no regard for their safety, their dignity or their lives. In WARHOL’S MUSES, Laurence Leamer shines a spotlight on the complex women who inspired and starred in Warhol’s legendary underground films.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593716663

THE WORDS OF DR. L: And Other Stories by Karen E. Bender
(Speculative Fiction/Short Stories)
Grounded in both the contemporary United States and a variety of dystopias, Karen E. Bender’s otherworldly collection examines the evolving dynamics of the nuclear family during adolescence, motherhood, the empty nest, and caring for an aging parent. A young woman seeks to learn the magical words that can terminate her unwanted pregnancy. A mother discovers an extra child in her home she had forgotten about. A couple is separated from their son and encased in globes orbiting the Earth. Society develops a terrible plan to leave the burning planet for a life on Mars. Each story honors the emotional force of its situation by grappling with themes of freedom, self-definition, youth, aging, control and power.
Counterpoint | 9781640095700

On Sale the Week of May 5th in Paperback

May 6th

THE BLACK BIRD ORACLE by Deborah Harkness (Paranormal Romance/Fantasy)
Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, an Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clermont in A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.
Ballantine Books | 9780593724798

THE CLEARING by Simon Toyne (Psychological Thriller)
Adele Friar knows better than most that something dangerous lurks in the forest. So when her sister, Maddie goes missing, she fears that the woods may hold the answers. Locals put the unusually high number of missing persons in the area down to inexperienced hikers getting lost in the forest’s depths, or girls abandoning their sleepy rural town for the excitement of city life. Some even blame the Cinderman, a legend who haunts the woods looking for unsuspecting victims. With help from Adele and DCI Tannahill Khan back in London, forensic specialist Laughton Rees is determined to find Maddie and dispel the dangerous ghost stories once and for all. But what if the monster in the woods isn’t a myth after all, and a cold-blooded killer is stalking his victims from the shadowy safety of the trees?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063390744

CLIVE CUSSLER GHOST SOLDIER: A Novel of the Oregon Files by Mike Maden (Thriller/Adventure)
When African jihadis attack a Nigerian regiment using American weapons, Juan Cabrillo and the Oregon crew are on the case, investigating from Afghanistan to Kuala Lumpur to track a mysterious arms dealer known only as the Vendor. Cabrillo goes undercover to find the Vendor’s base, but his adversary isn’t just an arms smuggler. He’s an arms maker, and Cabrillo just walked into a lethal military game alongside the most dangerous mercenaries in the world, designed to test the Vendor’s cutting-edge AI arsenal. And yet, surviving an arena full of flame-throwing robots isn’t even his biggest problem. The Vendor has an army of high-speed drones headed for a pivotal military site, and if the Oregon crew can’t stop them from releasing a deadly neurotoxin, the entire globe will erupt in conflict.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593719268

THE COAST ROAD by Alan Murrin (Fiction)
Set in 1994, THE COAST ROAD tells the story of two women --- Izzy Keaveney, a housewife, and Colette Crowley, a poet. Colette has left her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin. When she returns to her home in County Donegal to try to pick up the pieces of her old life, her husband, Shaun, a successful businessman, denies her access to her children. The only way she can see them is with the help of neighbor Izzy, who is acting as a go-between. Izzy also feels caught in a troubled marriage. The friendship that develops between them ultimately will lead to tragedy for one, and freedom for the other.
HarperVia | 9780063336568

THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese (Historical Fiction)
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, THE COVENANT OF WATER follows three generations of a Christian family in Kerala, South India, that suffers a peculiar affliction. In every generation, at least one person dies by drowning. As the novel opens, a 12-year-old girl is sent by boat to her wedding, where she meets her husband for the first time. She joins a prosperous household and becomes known as Big Ammachi, the matriarch of an extraordinary family that will endure hardship, celebrate triumph, and witness unthinkable changes over the coming decades.
Grove Press | 9780802162731

DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG by Eve J. Chung (Historical Fiction)
In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother --- abused by the family for failing to birth a boy --- finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed. Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape, embarking on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.
Berkley | 9780593640548

DEAD TIRED: An Expectant Detectives Novel by Kat Ailes (Mystery/Humor)
Alice didn’t think her maternity leave would involve so much, well, murder. Before becoming proud new moms, she and her friends bonded more than members of a prenatal group usually would, as they became accidental amateur sleuths and solved a crime together. Now, with all this behind them, Alice is keen to finally catch up on some sleep. So when an opportunity presents itself in the unlikely form of an eco-protest, Alice and her friends willingly chain themselves to trees and settle in as an excuse to get some overdue rest. However, the next morning one of their fellow protesters is found strangled, and any hope of a peaceful interlude is suddenly swept away. Soon Alice and her friends become entangled in a plot involving rogue artists, an enigmatic local entrepreneur, and nude (optional) protesting.
Minotaur Books | 9781250322753

DETECTIVE AUNTY by Uzma Jalaluddin (Mystery)
Paperback Original
After her husband’s unexpected death 18 months ago, Kausar Khan never thought she’d receive another phone call as heartbreaking --- until her thirty-something daughter, Sana, phones to say that she's been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique. Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly 20 years. Returning to the Golden Crescent suburb where she raised her children and where her daughter still lives, Kausar finds that the thriving neighborhood she remembered has changed. The murder of Sana’s landlord is only the latest in a wave of local crimes that have gone unsolved. With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth.
Harper Perennial | 9780063434875

FIVE-STAR STRANGER by Kat Tang (Fiction)
In an age where online ratings are all-powerful, FIVE-STAR STRANGER follows the adventures of a top-rated man on the Rental Stranger app as he navigates New York City under the guise of characters he plays, always maintaining a professional distance from his clients. But when an eccentric patron threatens to upend his long-term role as father to a young girl, Stranger begins to reckon with his attachment to his pretend daughter, her mother, and his own fraught past. Now, he must confront the boundaries he has drawn and explore the legacy of abandonment that shaped his life.
Scribner | 9781668050156

THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing (Memoir/Nature)
In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth. But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324110385

THE GENIUS OF JUDY: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us by Rachelle Bergstein (Biography/Popular Culture)
Judy Blume’s books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century? In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, she explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and even sexual pleasure. In doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.
Atria/One Signal Publishers | 9781668010914

I NEED YOU TO READ THIS by Jessa Maxwell (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Years ago, Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. But her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column "Dear Constance," and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times. When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies. Against all odds, she is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people’s problems. But she soon begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’ murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface.
Atria Books | 9781668008041

I WILL RUIN YOU by Linwood Barclay (Psychological Thriller)
English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others. But when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero. However, Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth, he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town --- something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. What price will he pay for one good deed?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063276321

THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS by John Connolly (Supernatural Thriller)
In Maine, Colleen Clark stands accused of the worst crime a mother can commit: the abduction and possible murder of her child. Everyone --- ambitious politicians in an election season, hardened police, ordinary folk --- has an opinion on the case, and most believe she is guilty. Defending Colleen is the lawyer Moxie Castin, and working alongside him is the private investigator Charlie Parker, who senses the tale has another twist --- one involving a husband too eager to accept his wife’s guilt, a group of fascists arming for war, a disgraced psychic seeking redemption, and an old, twisted house deep in the Maine woods, a house that never should have been built.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668022320

LADY MACBETH by Ava Reid (Gothic Historical Fantasy)
The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men. The Lady knows that she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed. The Lady knows that his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive. But the Lady does not know that her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world. She does not know this yet. But she will.
Del Rey | 9780593722589

THE LAST OF HIS KIND: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness by Andy McCullough (Sports/Biography)
Clayton Kershaw has embodied the burden of athletic greatness, the prizes and perils that await those who strive for it all. He is a three-time Cy Young award winner, the first pitcher to win National League MVP since Bob Gibson, and a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. In an age when baseball became more impersonal, a sport altered by adherence to algorithms and actuarial tables, Kershaw personified the game’s lingering humanity. THE LAST OF HIS KIND traces Kershaw’s path from a boyhood fractured by divorce to his development as one of the most heralded pitching prospects in Texas history to his emergence in Los Angeles as the spiritual heir to Sandy Koufax. But the book also charts Kershaw’s place in baseball’s changing landscape, as his own stubbornness butted against the game’s evolution.
Grand Central Publishing | 9780306832604

LISTEN FOR THE LIE by Amy Tintera (Mystery)
After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, was especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA. But now the phenomenally huge hit true-crime podcast "Listen for the Lie" and its too-good-looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.
Celadon Books | 9781250880338

A LOVELY LIE by Jaime Lynn Hendricks (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
The night of their senior picnic in 1999, Scarlett Russo and her best friend, Pepper, were involved in a car accident that left two of their classmates dead. Afterward, they lied to the police, protecting each other from the consequences. Then Pepper left town, and Scarlett never heard from her again. Twenty-two years later, Scarlett has buried that deadly incident deep in her mind and built a comfortable life for herself. However, her peace is disrupted when Pepper’s daughter shows up with news of Pepper’s death. Zoey has a cryptic letter from Pepper addressed to Scarlett that alludes to the events of that fateful night and Pepper’s initial intentions to get an abortion. Now Zoey wants answers about her mother’s past. Who is Zoey’s father? And what really happened after the senior picnic?
Scarlet | 9781613166703

MICHAEL WITHOUT APOLOGY by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Michael Woodbine was seven years old when a near-fatal fireworks accident scarred him and led to his placement in foster care. Now a college freshman, he is still trying to hide the effects of his trauma. When Michael signs up for a film class, he meets Robert Dunning, a teacher who wears his own scars unapologetically. Robert encourages Michael to make a documentary that explores body image and self-perception. Michael places an ad seeking people who feel unattractive and rejected by society. As he collects their stories --- and finally tells his own --- Michael feels more connected to the world than he ever has before. But he knows his journey of self-acceptance has one more obstacle: his crushing doubts about why his birth parents wouldn’t fight to keep him.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662522291

THE MIDNIGHT FEAST by Lucy Foley (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
It’s the opening night of The Manor, the newest and hottest luxury resort, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles. The “Manor Mule” cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen. But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And it’s not too long before the local police are called. It turns out that the past has crashed the party, with deadly results.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063003118

MIND GAMES by Nora Roberts (Romantic Suspense)
Thea Fox has become a renowned video game designer, a job that allows her to move back to her childhood home in Redbud Hollow, Kentucky. Now she lives in her own cozy cottage, down the road from her beloved Grammie and the house where she grew up. But Thea carries the burden of a special ability, one that she shares with her Grammie. They can both see into people's minds and souls. Sometimes, they can even see the future. Grammie calls it a gift, but ever since the day when Thea saw her parents get murdered in a dream, it’s felt like a curse. Thanks to her vision, the police caught the man who did it. But no matter how far away the killer is, Thea can still hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts. He knows it because he can see into her mind too --- and now he's made it his mission to get the ultimate revenge.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250911032

THE NEXT MRS. PARRISH by Liv Constantine (Psychological Thriller)
Hard work and immaculate planning turned Amber Patterson Parrish from invisible wallflower to prominent socialite. Less than a year after her husband Jackson’s tax-evasion scandal, Amber reigns supreme over the Bishops Harbor community. But with Jackson being released from prison, Amber’s free time --- and money --- is vanishing. Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson, swearing she would never go back. But when one of her daughters runs away from home, desperate to see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer for their daughters’ sake. When a ghost from Amber’s past emerges looking for revenge, these three figures find unlikely allies in one another. But who is playing who?
Bantam | 9780593599945

OTHER PEOPLE’S SUMMERS by Sarah Morgan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In school, Milly Beckett and Nicole Raven were as close as sisters. Now, years later, a gulf separates them. Nicole is a global superstar, but when scandal breaks, she turns to the only person she trusts. Fresh from a painful divorce, Milly is tempted to refuse her friend’s plea for help. Nicole wasn’t there for her when she needed her most, and that’s hard to forgive. But Nicole is desperate, and Milly agrees to give her the sanctuary she needs. Against a stunning Lake District backdrop, stilted small talk gradually gives way to soul-deep revelations as the two women slowly find their way back to one another. But Nicole can’t stay hidden forever --- and neither can the secret she’s been keeping from Milly, a secret that threatens both her future happiness and the fragile bond between them.
Canary Street Press | 9781335147011

THE PASSIONATE TUDOR: A Novel of Queen Mary I by Alison Weir (Historical Fiction)
Born from young King Henry’s first marriage, his elder daughter, Princess Mary, is raised to be queen once it becomes clear that her mother, Katherine of Aragon, will bear no more children. However, Henry’s passion for Anne Boleyn has a devastating influence on the young princess’s future when, determined to sire a male heir, he marries Anne, has his marriage to Katherine declared unlawful, brands Mary illegitimate, and banishes them both from the royal court. But when Anne also fails to produce a son, she is beheaded and Mary is allowed to return to court as the default heir. Mary eventually triumphs and becomes queen, but any hopes that she will show religious toleration are dashed when she embarks on a ruthless campaign to force Catholicism on the English by burning hundreds of Protestants at the stake.
Ballantine Books | 9780593355121

PHANTOM ORBIT by David Ignatius (Thriller)
Ivan Volkov is a Russian student in Beijing who discovers an unsolved puzzle in the writings of the 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. He takes the puzzle to a senior scientist in the Chinese space program and declares his intention to solve it. Volkov returns to Moscow and continues his secret work. The puzzle holds untold consequences for space warfare. The years pass, and they are not kind to Volkov. After the loss of his son, a prosecutor who had been too tough on corruption, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Volkov makes the fraught decision to contact the CIA. He writes: Satellites are your enemies, especially your own.... Hidden codes can make time stop and turn north into south.... If you are smart, you will find me.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324110514

A PLACE CALLED HOME: A Memoir by David Ambroz (Memoir)
As young children, David Ambroz and his siblings should have been focused on school, but instead they wandered the streets searching for shelter, food and warmth while their mother struggled with mental illness. When David is placed into foster care, he initially sees it as a beacon of hope, only to find that it brings its own set of dangers. Shuffled between abusive homes and enduring the cruelty of those who rejected him for his emerging sexuality, David's experience paints a stark picture of systemic failure. Amid the turmoil, David found refuge and hope in libraries, schools and the kindness of a few compassionate adults. His unyielding determination and resilience earned him a scholarship to Vassar College, marking the beginning of his escape from poverty.
Legacy Lit | 9780306923036

THE SEVENTH VEIL OF SALOME by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Historical Fiction)
1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times. So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves. Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood, make for a sizzling combination. But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.
Del Rey | 9780593600283

SKIN & BONES by Renée Watson (Fiction)
With her wedding weeks away, Lena Baker feels excited for the next chapter. She’s built a steady life in Portland, and between wine nights with her two best friends, a loving relationship, and a rewarding job, she’s happy --- until a devastating confession from her fiancé on their wedding day shakes her world. Unmoored and grieving, Lena questions everything she thought she knew about love, friendship and motherhood. In this stirring exploration of who society makes room for, one mother resolves to teach her daughter self-love even as she herself struggles with it --- and learns how to shine her bold, brilliant light in a world that wants to dim it.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316570893

SOCIETY OF LIES by Lauren Ling Brown (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Maya has returned to Princeton for her college reunion. This visit is special because Maya also will be attending the graduation of her little sister, Naomi. But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya’s worst nightmare when she receives the news that Naomi is dead. The police are calling it an accident, but Maya suspects that there is more to the story than they are letting on. As Maya pieces together what happened in the months leading up to her sister’s death, she begins to realize how much Naomi hid from her. Despite Maya’s warnings, Naomi had joined Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club on campus --- the same one Maya belonged to. And if she had to guess, Naomi was likely tapped for the secret society within it. The more Maya uncovers, the more terrified she becomes that Naomi’s decision to follow in her footsteps might have been what got her killed.
Bantam | 9780593723371

THE STOLEN CHILD by Ann Hood (Historical Fiction)
For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands --- and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal and the lives they’ve left behind.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324110392

STORM CHILD: A Cyrus Haven Novel by Michael Robotham (Psychological Thriller)
The mystery of Evie Cormac’s background has followed her into adulthood. As a child, she was discovered hiding in a secret room where a man had been tortured to death. Many of her captors and abusers escaped justice, unseen but not forgotten. Now, on a hot summer’s day, the past drags Evie back as she watches the bodies of 17 migrants wash up on a Lincolnshire beach. There is only one survivor, a teenage boy, who tells police their small boat was deliberately rammed and sunk. Psychologist Cyrus Haven is recruited by the police to investigate the murders --- but recognizes immediately that Evie has some link to the tragedy. By solving this crime, he could finally unlock the secrets of her past. But what dark forces will he set loose? And who will pay the price?
Scribner | 9781668031001

SWIFT RIVER by Essie Chambers (Historical Fiction)
It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop has been gone, she’s the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on. But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered. She is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668027929

THE TENANT by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone he shares with his fiancée, he's desperate to make ends meet. Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake is looking for. Or is she? Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears that someone knows his darkest secrets. Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464227318

WESTPORT by James Comey (Mystery/Thriller)
It’s been two years since Nora Carleton left the job she loved at the US Attorney’s Office to become lead counsel at Saugatuck Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. The career change also meant a change of scenery, relocating her to Westport, Connecticut, 50 miles north of New York City. But it was worth it to get her daughter, Sophie, away from the city. Plus, she likes the people she works with. Especially Helen, who recruited Nora because of her skills as an investigator. Then Nora's new life falls apart when a coworker is murdered and she becomes the lead suspect. Nora calls in her old colleagues from the US Attorney’s Office, Mafia investigator Benny Dugan and attorney Carmen Garcia. To clear Nora’s name, Benny and Carmen hunt for the true killer's motive, but it seems nearly everyone at Saugatuck has secrets worth killing for.
Mysterious Press | 9781613166710

WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow (History)
The 20th-century American department store: a palace of consumption where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York, Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled. In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II --- before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies --- becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s, Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel reinvented the look of the modern department store and inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers, as well as decades of copycats.
Vintage | 9780593468012

THE WITCHES OF BELLINAS by J. Nicole Jones (Gothic Fiction)
Tansy and her husband, Guy, are the newest arrivals in Bellinas, a lush oasis tucked into the coast of northern California where a reclusive, creative community is beginning to take shape. Helmed by Guy’s cousin Mia, a famous model-turned-wellness-luminary, and her tech mogul husband, the group renounces the outside world in pursuit of purity, fashioning their own rules about what to eat and how to live. Everything seems perfect in Bellinas: food is abundant, flowers are always in bloom, and nearby wildfires leave the town remarkably unscathed. While Guy is happy in their new lives, Tansy becomes more and more suspicious of the community and increasingly desperate to save her already-fragile marriage. And as lonely women have throughout the ages, she wants to believe in what may only be a beautiful lie.
Catapult | 9781646222728

WIVES LIKE US by Plum Sykes (Fiction)
Welcome to the rose-strewn county of Oxfordshire and the tony Cotswold villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom and Monkton Bottom, recently annexed by a glittering new breed of female: the Country Princess. Following a ghastly row about a missing suite of diamonds, Tata Hawkins has flounced out of Monkton Bottom Manor with her daughter, Minty, and Executive Butler Ian Palmer in tow, decamping to The Old Coach House to teach her husband, Bryan, a lesson. But things don’t go according to plan: Bryan disappears to Venice with a bikini designer; Selby Fairfax, the glamorous American divorcée who has inherited the beautiful estate next door, is refusing Tata’s overtures of friendship; Tata’s best friends are distracted by their own heartache, and the posh Pennybacker-Hoare sisters are plotting to prevent Tata from regaining her crown as Queen of the Bottoms.
Harper Perennial | 9780062429124

WOMAN OF INTEREST: A Memoir by Tracy O'Neill (Memoir)
In 2020, Tracy O’Neill began to rethink her ideas of comfort and safety. Just out of a 10-year relationship and thirty-something, she was driven by an acute awareness that the mysterious mother she’d never met might be dying somewhere in South Korea. After contacting a grizzled private investigator, O’Neill took his suggested homework to heart when he disappeared before the job was done, picking up the trail of clues and becoming her own hell-bent detective. Despite COVID-19, the promise of what she might discover --- the possibility that her biological mother was her kind of outlaw, whose life could inspire her own --- was too tempting.
HarperOne | 9780063309876

THE YEAR OF LIVING CONSTITUTIONALLY: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning by A.J. Jacobs (Memoir)
A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment with a quill and handing them out to strangers in Times Square. He consents to quartering a soldier, as is his Third Amendment right. He turns his home into a traditional 1790s household by lighting candles instead of using electricity, boiling mutton, and --- because women were not allowed to sign contracts --- feebly attempting to take over his wife’s day job, which involves a lot of contract negotiations. The book blends unforgettable adventures --- delivering a handwritten petition to Congress, battling redcoats as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment group --- with dozens of interviews from constitutional experts from both sides.
Crown | 9780593136768

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