May 20, 2025

May 20, 2025

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 19th and May 26th 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 Women's Fiction Author Spotlight & Contest for Lori Foster’s upcoming book, THE GUEST COTTAGE, which kicks off her Firefly Summer series. In anticipation of its May 27th publication, we’re awarding a copy to 25 readers and asking them to share their feedback on it by Monday, July 7th. The deadline for your entries is Friday, May 30th at noon ET.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight & Contest for
THE GUEST COTTAGE by Lori Foster
Win One of 25 Copies and Share Your Comments on It

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, May 21st at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Anthony Horowitz for a live virtual discussion of MARBLE HALL MURDERS as part of their B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. Anthony will be in conversation with the New York Times bestselling author of END OF STORY, A. J. Finn.

Wednesday, May 21st at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Kristy Woodson Harvey about her book, BEACH HOUSE RULES. This delightfully moving new novel is about a mother-daughter duo learning to lean on their community of women --- and each other --- after their world is turned upside down.

Thursday, May 22nd at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Chris Pavone for a live virtual discussion of THE DOORMAN as part of their B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event series. Chris will be in conversation with bestselling author Maria Semple.

Friday, May 23rd at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Fredrik Backman for a live virtual event to discuss his latest novel, MY FRIENDS, which is May's B&N Book Club pick. Fredrik will be in conversation with Lexie Smyth, B&N’s Category Manager for Fiction, and Brenda Allison, a Frontlist Buyer at B&N.

On Sale the Week of May 19th in Hardcover

May 20th

ABIGAIL AND ALEXA SAVE THE WEDDING by Lian Dolan (Fiction)
Penelope and Chase make a lovely couple, and everyone is excited about their wedding. Except their mothers. The Mother of the Bride, suave Greek-born Alexa Diamandis, doesn’t understand why any woman would get married. The Mother of the Groom, Abigail Blakeman, is a garden club stalwart firmly planted in coastal Connecticut. She thinks the whole enterprise would be so much easier if the wedding was at their golf club. Especially because the family’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. But when a sudden twist of fate calls them into action, these two very different women are forced to take over the wedding planning. How far will two moms go to make their children’s dream wedding a reality?
William Morrow | 9780063270657

AFTERTASTE by Daria Lavelle (Fiction)
Konstantin Duhovny’s father died when he was 10, and ghosts have been hovering around him ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. He discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones --- at least for the length of time it takes them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668061596

THE BOOK OF RECORDS by Madeleine Thien (Fiction)
Lina and her father arrive at an enclave called The Sea, a staging post between migrations, with only a few possessions. In this mysterious and shape-shifting place, a building made of time, pasts and futures collide. Lina befriends her neighbors: Bento, a Jewish scholar in 17th-century Amsterdam; Blucher, a philosopher in 1930s Germany fleeing Nazi persecution; and Jupiter, a poet of Tang Dynasty China. Memory, political revolution, generational change and the ethical imagination are at the heart of Lina’s illuminating conversations with her fellows in the Sea. Through their guidance, Lina equips herself to reckon with difficult questions of guilt, responsibility and the possibility of redemption when her ailing father begins to reveal his role in their family’s tragic past.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324078654

DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING: A Rip Through Time Novel by Kelley Armstrong (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchell and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie. Mallory, Gray and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's younger sister's wedding. When they arrive at the Cranston estate, Gray and Mallory decide to explore the castle and the surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who's been caught and severely injured. When one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.
Minotaur Books | 9781250321312

THE DOORMAN by Chris Pavone (Thriller)
Chicky Diaz is everyone’s favorite doorman at the Bohemia, the most famous apartment house in the world. But gathered in the Bohemia’s bowels, the building’s almost entirely Black and Hispanic working-class staff is taking in the news that just a few miles uptown, a Black man has been killed by the police, leading to a demonstration, a counterdemonstration, and a long night of violence across the tinderbox city. As Chicky changes into his uniform for tonight’s shift, he finds himself breaking a cardinal rule of the job. Tonight, he’ll be carrying a gun, bought only hours earlier, but before he knew of the pandemonium taking over the city. Chicky knows that there’s more going on in his patch of sidewalk in front of the Bohemia than anyone is aware of.
MCD | 9780374604790

THE FATE OF OTHERS: Stories by Richard Bausch (Fiction/Short Stories)
In these 12 new stories, Richard Bausch explores the passions of men and women facing unexpected circumstances and the complications of modern life and love. In “Donnaiolo,” the parents of a young divorcée who has returned from Italy and a failed marriage must deal with the completely different, and unappealing, person she has become. In “Broken House,” an elderly Catholic man recalls his part in the destruction of an old farmhouse by altar boys who believed a monk had given them permission to destroy it --- while also portraying his lifelong fascination with one of the boys, a gifted artist who has carried a secret for decades about the church they both wanted to serve as priests. And in “The Widow’s Tale,” a woman whose recently killed husband repeatedly visits her younger sister in dreams attends a séance.
Knopf | 9780593801451

FDR DRIVE by James Comey (Legal Thriller)
After a stint in the private sector, working at the largest hedge fund in the world, Nora Carleton has returned to her former role as a New York City federal prosecutor. A threat is building in the city, with far-right extremism powered by internet demagogues and funded by shadowy organizations. Together with legendary investigator Benny Dugan and aided by colleagues at the FBI, Nora builds a case against one of the key players in this burgeoning movement, arguing before a jury that some speech is actually a deadly crime. But the menace taking root is far bigger than any courtroom, and as the militants target an upcoming United Nations rally, Nora and her team must race to disrupt the plans and minimize casualties.
Mysterious Press | 9781613166444

GOING HOME IN THE DARK by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams --- and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But they begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him. For Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662500534

HEART, BE AT PEACE by Donal Ryan (Fiction)
In a small town in Ireland, the local people have weathered the storm of economic collapse and now look to the future: The jobs are back, the dramas of the past seemingly lulled, and although the town bears the scars of its history, new stories have begun to unfold. But an insidious menace now creeps through back-alley shadows and into the lives of the townspeople. Old grudges fester, and new ones arise. Young people are lured by the promise of fast money, while the generation above them tries to hold back the tide of an enemy beyond their control. And the peace of this town is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way.
Viking | 9780593834640

THE LAST FERRY OUT by Andrea Bartz (Psychological Thriller)
When Abby steps foot on Isla Colel, she isn’t sure what she’ll find. She only knows that she needs to see the place where her fiancée, Eszter, died to try and make sense of the tragic accident. Though the island was once a bustling tourist hub, a hurricane has left it a shell of its former self, with only a handful of residents remaining. Even the once-daily ferry to the mainland now runs every week or so. There, Abby befriends an alluring group of expats, but her sense of unease surges when one of them says he knows the truth about Eszter’s final days. Before he can tell her more, though, he vanishes from the island. As her quest for the truth unearths dark secrets, shady pasts and a web of lies, Abby grows more determined than ever to find out what happened to the love of her life.
Ballantine Books | 9780593597972

LLOYD McNEIL'S LAST RIDE by Will Leitch (Fiction/Humor)
Lloyd McNeil has just learned he has months to live. He also learns that his 20 years as a beat cop in Atlanta haven’t earned him enough money to take care of his teenage son, Bishop, after he’s gone. But when Lloyd discovers his police benefits will increase exponentially if he dies in the line of duty, he comes up with a plan. Lloyd begins to throw himself into one life-threatening situation after another to try to get himself killed and to provide for his son…but he keeps failing --- and surviving. To his shock, his accidental heroics make him an inspirational icon in the community. But time is still running out for Lloyd to get his affairs in order, to teach Bishop the lessons he needs to be a good person, and to say goodbye.
Harper | 9780063238565

THE LOVE HATERS by Katherine Center (Romantic Comedy)
Katie Vaughn has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer, or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie is not exactly qualified. She can’t swim --- but pretends that she can. Plus, Cole and Hutch are brothers. And they don’t get along. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good-looking man she has ever seen…but maybe a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two. Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes and stolen kisses ensue --- along with chances to tell the truth, face old fears, and be truly brave at last.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250283825

MARGUERITE BY THE LAKE by Mary Dixie Carter (Psychological Thriller)
Marguerite Gray is a lifestyle icon known for her garden parties, high-end business ventures, and being the muse behind the famous Serge Kuhnert painting, Marguerite by the Lake. For the last few years, Phoenix has been the gardener on the famed Rosecliff grounds, home of Marguerite and her husband, Geoffrey. When a storm threatens the launch party for Marguerite’s latest book, Phoenix rushes to Geoffrey’s side to save him from a falling tree. Geoffrey is grateful --- perhaps too grateful. Marguerite is…jealous. Phoenix becomes embroiled in an affair that could destroy her career. But soon after the affair begins, Marguerite falls to her death. Now Phoenix has another secret, one that haunts her even as Geoffrey invites her to move into the manor with him.
Minotaur Books | 9781250790385

MURDER IN THE DOLLHOUSE: The Jennifer Dulos Story by Rich Cohen (True Crime)
Rich Cohen’s MURDER IN THE DOLLHOUSE is the chilling, unputdownable story of Jennifer Dulos, a beautiful, rich suburban mother who dropped her kids off at the New Canaan Country School one morning and vanished. Her body has never been found. Dulos was in the midst of an ugly divorce --- one of the most contentious in Connecticut state history. The couple, a beautiful, highly connected pair, met at Brown University, had five children, and led what appeared to be a charmed life. In the wake of her disappearance, Dulos’ husband and his girlfriend were arrested. He killed himself on the day he was supposed to report to court. She was tried and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374608064

NIGHT IN THE CITY by Michael McGarrity (Historical/Noir Mystery)
Sam Monroe thought his steamy love affair with Manhattan socialite Laura Nielson was dead and buried, but when she didn’t show up after unexpectedly calling him late at night and asking to meet, he decides to investigate. He finds her naked on her penthouse balcony, strangled, his dog tags wrapped around her neck. With a bull’s-eye on his back as the prime suspect, Sam begins a search for the killer that reveals Laura’s involvement with several men, some with ties to a well-known crime family. As circumstantial evidence mounts against him, the cops close in, especially a heavy-handed rogue patrolman carrying a grudge against Sam and looking for serious payback.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324066279

NIGHTSHADE by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor --- a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig. Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316588485

OUR LAST WILD DAYS by Anna Bailey (Thriller)
Living in a shack out in the swamps, the Labasques made do by hunting down alligators and other animals. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are troublemakers and outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want in your community. So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her mother. When she left town at 18 years old, she betrayed Cutter. Now with a ragtag group from the local paper where she works, Loyal goes in search of answers, uncovering a web of deceit and corruption that implicates those in town.
Atria Books | 9781982157197

TAKING MIDWAY: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World War II by Martin Dugard (History)
1942. Everywhere around the world, the Allies are losing the war. Nowhere is this felt more completely than in the Pacific, where Japanese sea and ground forces claim victory after victory. Meanwhile, in Honolulu, a brilliant young naval officer is determined to break Japan's top secret codes. Lt. Commander Joseph Rochefort is inches away from cracking the code by April but is startled to learn that the Japanese are planning yet another major invasion somewhere in the Pacific. What ensues is the cat-and-mouse adventure that will become the epic fight known as the Battle of Midway. The dramatic battle will involve strategy, luck, heartbreak --- and will change the course of World War II.
Dutton | 9780593473245

THINGS IN NATURE MERELY GROW by Yiyun Li (Memoir/Essays)
“There is no good way to say this,” Yiyun Li writes at the beginning of this book. “There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged. My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.” There is no good way to say this --- because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, “a single point in a timeline.” Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking and reasoning and searching for words that might hold a place for James. Li does what she can: “doing the things that work,” including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thinkingly alongside death.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374617318

TOM CLANCY LINE OF DEMARCATION: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel by M. P. Woodward (Thriller/Adventure)
It starts with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her entire crew. But the USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The destruction of the ship won't stop that mission from continuing. So who would sacrifice 22 men and women just to slow down the plan? That's the question plaguing Jack Ryan Jr. He's in Guyana to work a deal to get his company, Hendley Associates, in on the ground floor of this new discovery, but Russia’s Wagner Group and a pack of Venezuelan narco-terrorists have other ideas --- and will risk war with the United States to see them through. It's up to Jack to identify the killers before they draw a bead on him.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593718001

WE LIVE HERE NOW by Sarah Pinborough (Gothic Thriller/Horror)
After an accident that nearly kills her, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a beautiful Dartmoor country house called Larkin Lodge. The house is gorgeous and striking, but something about it feels deeply wrong to Emily. Old boards creak at night, fires go out, and books fall from the shelves. But these things happen only when Emily is alone. Her postsepsis condition can cause hallucinatory side effects, which means she can’t fully trust her own senses. Although Freddie doesn’t notice anything odd, Emily starts to believe that the house is being haunted by someone who was murdered in it. As bizarre events pile up and her marriage starts to crumble, Emily becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Larkin Lodge. But if the house has secrets, so do Emily and Freddie.
Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar | 9781250394057

On Sale the Week of May 19th in Paperback

May 20th

BLUE SISTERS by Coco Mellors (Fiction)
The three Blue sisters are exceptional --- and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left the family reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment in which they were raised. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize that the greatest secrets they’ve been keeping might not have been from one another but from themselves.
Ballantine Books | 9780593723784

THE DAUGHTERS’ WAR by Christopher Buehlman (Fantasy/Adventure)
Galva --- Galvicha to her three brothers, two of whom the goblins will kill --- has defied her family’s wishes and joined the army’s untested new unit, the Raven Knights. They march toward a once-beautiful city overrun by the goblin horde, accompanied by scores of giant war corvids. Made with the darkest magics, these fearsome black birds may hold the key to stopping the goblins in their war to make cattle of mankind. The road to victory is bloody, and goblins are clever and merciless. The Raven Knights can take nothing for granted --- not the bonds of family, nor the wisdom of their leaders, nor their own safety against the dangerous war birds at their side. But some hopes are worth any risk.
Tor Books | 9781250887696

DISTURBING THE DEAD: A Rip Through Time Novel by Kelley Armstrong (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. But inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray and is developing true friends --- and feelings --- in this century. So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn't that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. When their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy, Gray and Mallory are asked to step in. And upon closer inspection, it’s not a mummy they’ve unwrapped, but a much more modern body.
Minotaur Books | 9781250321305

DRIVE: The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods by Bob Harig (Sports)
In 1997, at the age of 21, Tiger Woods won the Masters. He became the youngest golfer ever to win the Masters and the first African- or Asian-American player to win a major. History had been made --- and would continue to be made over the next 15 years. Woods has proven to be a complicated figure through his decades in the spotlight. Plagued by marital scandal, a DUI arrest, and severe back injuries that resulted in what even he believed would be a career-ending spinal fusion surgery in 2017, Woods’ career finally seemed to be coming to an end. That all changed through 2018 and into 2019 as he returned slowly from the surgery. In 2019, Woods made history once again, winning the Masters. In DRIVE, Bob Harig brings readers the true story of the grit and perseverance of Tiger Woods in the final years of his career.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250901460

EVENINGS AND WEEKENDS by Oisín McKenna (Fiction)
It’s June 2019, and everyone has converged on London’s parks, beer gardens and street corners to revel in the collective joys of being alive. Everyone but Maggie. She’s 30, pregnant and broke. Faced with moving back to the town she fought to escape, she’s wondering if having a baby with boyfriend Ed will be the last spontaneous act of her life. Ed, meanwhile, is trying to run from his past with Maggie’s best friend, Phil, and harboring secret dreams of his own. Phil hates his office job and is living for the weekend, while falling for his housemate, Keith. But there’s a problem: Keith has a boyfriend. Then there’s Rosaleen, Phil’s mother, who has just been diagnosed with cancer and is traveling to London to tell her son. As Saturday night approaches, all their lives are set to change forever.
Mariner Books | 9780063319981

EXHIBIT by R. O. Kwon (Fiction)
At a lavish party, Jin Han meets Lidija Jung. A brilliant young photographer, Jin is at a crossroads in her work, in her marriage to her college love, and in who she is and who she wants to be. Lidija is an alluring, injured world-class ballerina on hiatus from her ballet company under mysterious circumstances. Drawn to each other by their intense artistic drives, the two women talk all night. Jin finds herself telling Lidija about an old familial curse, breaking a lifelong promise. She's been told that if she doesn’t keep the curse a secret, she risks losing everything; death and ruin could lie ahead. As Jin and Lidija become more entangled, they realize they share more than the ferocity of their ambition, and they begin to explore hidden desires. Something is ignited in Jin, but can she avoid the specter of the curse?
Riverhead Books | 9780593190036

FOREVER HOME by Graham Norton (Fiction)
Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland. A second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and belonging --- and sparks a flurry of speculation. What does a woman like her see in a man like that? What happened to his wife who abandoned him and his children all those years ago? Carol and Declan know their relationship is the talk of the town, but the gossip only serves to bring the couple closer. When Declan becomes ill, their relationship falters. His children are untrusting and cruel, and Carol is forced to leave their beloved home and move back with her parents. It seems there are secrets in Declan's past, strange rumors that were never confronted, and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance that affects them all.
HarperVia | 9780063338623

THE GIRLS OF GOOD FORTUNE by Kristina McMorris (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Oregon, 1888. Amid the subterranean labyrinth of Portland's notorious Shanghai Tunnels, a woman awakens in an underground cell, drugged and disguised. Celia soon realizes she's a "shanghaied" victim on the verge of being shipped off as forced labor. Although well accustomed to adapting for survival --- being half-Chinese, passing as white during an era fraught with anti-Chinese sentiment --- she fears that far more than her own fate hangs in the balance. As she pieces together the twisting path that led to her abduction, revelations emerge of a child left in peril. Desperate, Celia must find a way to escape and return to a place where unearthed secrets can prove deadlier than the dark recesses of Chinatown.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464252006

A GOOD LIFE written by Virginie Grimaldi, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Fiction)
Sisters Emma and Agathe were thick as thieves when they were young but have always been as different as can be. Five years older, Emma was the defender, protector and worrier for her fiery younger sister until tragedy marred their relationship. For a long time, Emma has kept her distance from Agathe and her chaos. But when their adored grandmother dies, they must return together to Spain to empty out her house and, in the process, reconcile, remember and pour out what is hidden inside their hearts. Alternating between the sisters' childhood and the present day, Virginie Grimaldi's delicately wrought prose paints complex portraits of the two women, asking if the scars of the past can ever truly be healed, and what, in the end, is a good life.
Europa Editions | 9798889661054

THE GUNCLE ABROAD by Steven Rowley (Fiction)
It’s been five years since Patrick O’Hara’s summer as his niece Maisie and nephew Grant’s caretaker after their mother’s passing. The kids are back in Connecticut with their dad, and Patrick has relocated to New York to remain close by and relaunch his dormant acting career. After the run of his second successful sitcom comes to a close, Patrick feels on top of the world…professionally. He is single again after breaking things off with Emory. But at least he has a family to lean on. Until that family needs to lean on him again. When Patrick's brother, Greg, announces he’s getting remarried in Italy, Maisie and Grant are not thrilled. Patrick feels drawn to take the two back under his wing. As they travel through Europe on their way to the wedding, Patrick tries his best to help them understand love, much as he once helped them comprehend grief.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593540473

HARD TO KILL: A Jane Smith Thriller by James Patterson and Mike Lupica (Legal Thriller)
Attorney Jane Smith is mounting an impossible criminal defense. Her client, Rob Jacobson, is the unluckiest of the unlucky. No sooner is he accused of killing a family of three in the Hamptons than a second family is gunned down. It’s not double jeopardy. It’s not double murder. It’s double triple homicide. Jane’s career has spanned from NYPD beat cop to Hamptons courtroom. She’s tough to beat. She’s even tougher to kill. The defense may never rest.
Little, Brown and Company | 9781538758885

I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL by Natalie Sue (Fiction/Humor)
As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text color to white so no one can see. That is until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions. When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it. But who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this just might be the key to saving her job.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063320376

I WANT YOU MORE by Swan Huntley (Domestic Thriller/Dark Humor)
Reeling from her father’s death, Zara Pines accepts a ghostwriting gig for celebrity chef Jane Bailey. Jane, star of the wildly popular cooking show “30 Bucks Tops,” invites Zara to live in her East Hampton home for the summer. Zara doesn’t want to go, but Jane insists. As the two women create Jane’s book, their attachment grows stronger. Zara, who’s lost and in search of an identity, finds one in the shadow of Jane. She starts wearing Jane’s clothes. And speaking like Jane. And adopting Jane’s mannerisms. Eventually, the line between them blurs, and Zara starts to see the side Jane keeps hidden from the cameras.
Zibby Publishing | 9781958506707

LIBBY LOST AND FOUND by Stephanie Booth (Fiction)
Meet Libby Weeks, author of the mega-bestselling fantasy series The Falling Children --- written as "F.T. Goldhero" to maintain her privacy. When the last manuscript is already months overdue to her publisher and rabid fans around the world are growing impatient, Libby is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Already suffering from crippling anxiety, Libby's symptoms quickly accelerate. After she forgets her dog at the park one day --- then almost discloses her identity to the journalist who finds him --- Libby has to admit it: she needs help finishing the last book. Desperately, she turns to 11-year-old superfan Peanut Bixton, who knows the books even better than she does but harbors her own dark secrets. Tensions mount as Libby's dementia deepens --- until both Peanut and Libby swirl into an inevitable but bone-shocking conclusion.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464236303

LIES AND WEDDINGS by Kevin Kwan (Fiction)
Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel, has a problem: the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending, resulting in a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution is for Rufus to attend his sister’s wedding at a luxury eco-resort and seduce a woman with money. Should he marry Solène de Courcy, a French hotel heiress with honey blond tresses and a royal bloodline? Should he pursue Martha Dung, the tattooed venture capital genius who passes out billions like lollipops? Or should he follow his heart, betray his family, squander his legacy, and finally confess his love to the humble daughter of a doctor? When a volcanic eruption burns through the nuptials and a hot mic exposes a secret tryst, the Gresham family plans --- and their reputation --- go up in flames.
Vintage | 9780593081945

LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fiction)
In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, and the family moves on with their lives. But now, nearly 40 years later, it’s clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything. Carl has spent the ensuing years secretly seeking closure to the matter of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has spent her potential protecting her husband’s emotional health. Their three grown children aren’t doing much better. As they hover at the delicate precipice of a different kind of survival, they learn that the family fortune has dwindled to just about nothing, and they must face desperate questions about how much their wealth has played a part in both their lives’ successes and failures.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593133514

LOVE LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER by Tasha Coryell (Psychological Thriller)
Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters --- and he writes back. Her interest in the case goes from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. After she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial and befriends fellow true-crime junkies. When a fifth woman is discovered murdered, the jury has no choice but to find William not guilty, and Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release. The two of them quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss. Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder.
Berkley | 9780593640289

MAKING A KILLING: A DI Fawley Thriller by Cara Hunter (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
When Nick Vincent, the producer of the true-crime show “Infamous,” hears about an explosive new angle on a high-profile case --- the 2016 murder of an eight-year-old girl in Oxford --- he leaps at the chance to send a researcher to verify the claims. Two months later, a dog walker discovers a woman’s body, bound and buried in a shallow grave in the woods. Forensic evidence links the corpse to the disappearance of that same child. DCI Adam Fawley, the original investigating officer, is called in to run the enquiry. He arrested the child’s mother for murder, which he now knows she didn’t commit. The investigation raises more questions than answers. What connects the two crimes? Where has the dead girl been all these years? How did she manage to disappear?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063271098

MAYA BLUE: A Memoir of Survival by Brenda Coffee (Memoir)
Paperback Original
At 21, Brenda Coffee surrendered herself to her marriage and became a woman who would do almost anything her charismatic and powerful older husband, Philip Ray, wanted. Regardless of whether it was dangerous, adventurous, sexual or illegal, she wanted to be the one woman he couldn’t live without. Brenda and Philip’s life together was a fairy tale until it wasn’t. Until Philip, the founder of two high-profile, groundbreaking public companies, began making real cocaine in their basement and became addicted. Until the Big Six tobacco companies threatened their lives for creating the first smokeless cigarette --- Brenda coined the terms vape and vaping --- and brutal Guatemalan military commandos forced her into the jungle at gunpoint.
She Writes Press | 9781647429065

THE MEMORY COLLECTORS by Dete Meserve (Speculative Mystery/Science Fiction)
Paperback Original
Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son, who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love, who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake. Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders, which allows some lucky clients the chance to spend an hour in their past. But when their “hour” extends beyond 60 minutes, Elizabeth, Andy, Logan and Brooke find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared history.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892422420

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT by Riley Sager (Psychological Thriller)
One July night, 10-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent on a manicured lawn in a quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again. Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle? The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place --- be it quiet forest or suburban street --- is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.
Dutton | 9780593472392

PEARCE OYSTERS by Joselyn Takacs (Fiction)
Set on the Louisiana coastline during the historic 2010 oil spill, PEARCE OYSTERS follows the Pearce family, local oyster farmers whose business, family and livelihood are all on the brink of collapse. It highlights the grit and beauty of lives lived in an overlooked corner of the American South and the interdependence of nature and man. Diving deep into the bonds of family, culture, community, class and industry, debut novelist Joselyn Takacs elevates the voices of her deeply sympathetic characters: Jordan, the reluctant head of his family’s storied oyster business; May, his distressed, widowed mother who has her own unexpected drama; and Benny, the beatnik musician brother who returns from New Orleans to help with the crisis.
Zibby Publishing | 9798990630437

ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE BOURNE SHADOW by Brian Freeman (Thriller/Adventure)
When a desperate stranger in Zurich asks for Jason Bourne's help, she calls him by the name David Webb, which is the identity he left behind years ago to become Jason Bourne. This woman tells him an incredible story --- that her sister disappeared with David’s help after the deaths of four terrorists in the mountains. Now men from this same extremist group are trying to hunt her down. Bourne remembers none of it, but when the Swiss bistro erupts in violence, he finds himself on the run, chasing the ghosts of his very first Treadstone mission. Operating on pure instinct, Bourne plunges into a maelstrom unlike any he’s ever experienced, hoping to rescue a woman he once loved. He soon discovers that no one in this world of shadows can be trusted --- and everything he’s been told about his past is a lie.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593716472

SERVICE MODEL by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they also can do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human well-being is having to find a new purpose.
Tor Books | 9781250290304

SONGS OF SUMMER by Jane L. Rosen (Fiction)
Paperback Original
At 30, Maggie May Wheeler has big plans for her vintage record shop and is about to be engaged to her childhood best friend. But when she stumbles across a letter she wrote to her future self when she was 13, she realizes it may not be enough. The letter ignites a desire to find her birth mother and discover where she really belongs. Her search takes her to dreamy Fire Island, where her birth mother is a guest at a wedding. As Maggie spies on her biological family, she’s caught between diving into their chaotic lives and returning to her comfortable world. Things heat up when a charming local makes her an offer to crash the wedding as his date. Is it the island’s magic, the whirlwind of the weekend, or the thrill of a fake beau that has her rethinking everything?
Berkley | 9780593818787

SUMMER ON HIGHLAND BEACH by Sunny Hostin (Fiction)
Highland Beach, the oldest historically Black beach community in America, was founded in the late 1800s along the Chesapeake Bay by the son of Frederick Douglass. Inside this proud and secluded community of about 100 private homes is Olivia Jones’ legacy. But Olivia’s legacy comes with thorns. Intertwined are secrets of her aunt’s death; a controlling grandmother who is determined to crush anyone or anything that will interfere with her son’s political career; and a father who wants to rebuild the family he rejected decades ago. In the midst of tense family drama, Olivia must decide if she wants to return to the beautiful life she’s created in Sag Harbor --- with the neighbors and wonderful man who've become central to her happiness --- or finally achieve her dream of having a family and home to call her own in Highland Beach.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062994264

THEIR DOUBLE LIVES by Jaime Lynn Hendricks (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
A down-on-her-luck waitress at a posh New Jersey country club, Kim Valva couldn’t be living a more different life from the carefree socialites she serves. Her live-in boyfriend recently cheated on her, her social life is in shambles, and her dog needs a life-saving surgery that she can’t afford. Then a mysterious figure called The Stranger contacts her with an offer she can’t refuse: Put a pill in the new member’s drink; when he dies, she’ll have enough money to fix her dog and her life. Her target turns out to be Tony Fiore, Kim’s bad boy ex-boyfriend from high school. Stunned to see Tony again, Kim can’t bring herself to go through with spiking his drink. Instead, it is Tony’s gorgeous fiancée, PJ Walsh, who dies horrifically at the table just as dinner ends.
Scarlet | 9781613166048

WHISTLE by Linwood Barclay (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Paperback Original
Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son, Charlie, to a charming small town in upstate New York. Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. But there’s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night --- she could swear she hears a train, but there isn’t an active track for miles --- and bizarre things begin happening in the neighborhood. Worse, Annie can’t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a children’s book.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063436039

On Sale the Week of May 26th in Hardcover

May 27th

1861: THE LOST PEACE by Jay Winik (History)
1861: THE LOST PEACE is the story of President Lincoln’s difficult and courageous decision to go to war against the Confederacy at a time when the country wrestled with deep moral questions of epic proportions. Through Jay Winik’s singular reporting and storytelling, readers will learn about the extraordinary Washington Peace Conference at the Willard Hotel to avert cataclysmic war. They will observe the irascible and farsighted Senator JJ Crittenden, the tireless moderate seeking a middle way to peace. Readers will glimpse inside Lincoln’s cabinet, which rivaled the executive in its authority --- a fact too often forgotten --- and witness a parade of statesmen frenetically grasping for peace rather than the spectacle of a young nation slowly choking itself to death.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538735121

AUTOCORRECT: Stories written by Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston (Fiction/Short Stories)
Etgar Keret is the world’s most famous living Israeli writer. His work explores life’s smallest, most unremarkable interactions in ways that are profound and unusual. The characters populating his fiction live in a world of ever-advancing technology, but it is always degraded by the baseness of human passions and brutality. A character’s partner is a reality show contestant from a parallel dimension. Another finds that the asteroid they paid to have named after their wife is scheduled to collide with earth. An elderly widow convinces a popular AI program to commit suicide. These stories speak to our current moment in time: the uncertainty and fragility --- full of misunderstandings and miscommunications --- while looking for reasons and the strength to find hope.
Riverhead Books | 9780593717233

BEACH HOUSE RULES by Kristy Woodson Harvey (Fiction)
When Charlotte Sitterly’s husband is arrested for a white-collar crime, she and her daughter, Iris, are locked out of their house by the FBI and thrust into the spotlight of @JuniperShoresSocialite, the town’s snarky anonymous Instagram account. Cut off from her bank accounts and feeling desperate, Charlotte takes up an acquaintance’s offer to stay at a beachfront former bed-and-breakfast that’s home to a community of single mothers and draws plenty of gossip in the small coastal North Carolina town. But when the women discover a secret link between them, it changes everything they thought they knew about the unconventional family they’ve created and leaves them wondering if their coming together was a coincidence at all.
Gallery Books | 9781668074800

BEYOND THIS PLACE OF WRATH AND TEARS by Jack Ford (Historical Fiction)
Washington, DC, April 1954: When former war correspondent Lee Carson receives a tip about a Russian spy in a high-ranking government position at the height of the Cold War, she feels the thrill of a story that she hasn’t felt since she was on the front lines of the European theater. London, December 1943: As war rages on across Europe, 22-year-old Lee Carson is waging a private battle of her own. An American-born correspondent for the International News Service, Lee is determined to cover the war from the field. But no woman will be allowed near the front lines. Lee is not easily dissuaded. Assigned to cover the build-up to the invasion of Nazi-held Europe, she constantly wrangles with authorities in order to get to the heart of the action.
Kensington | 9781496750310

BURNED BRIDGES: An Irene Rivers Thriller by John Gilstrap (Thriller)
She thought she and her loved ones would be safe here. The lovely farm nestled in the heart of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle looks like the perfect refuge from the backstabbing maelstrom of DC politics. But this seemingly peaceful new home is anything but safe for former FBI director Irene Rivers and her children. Troubles begin when Irene’s 12-year-old nephew finds a dead body in a cave on the property. Grim evidence points to a long-ago murder and cover-up. Powerful forces will do anything --- including kill again --- to protect their interests. Soon Irene’s family is the target of the kinds of threats and intimidation she’s seen before from major crime syndicates. But this time, the enemy determined to tear them down is homegrown. Then comes the attack she most fears.
Kensington | 9781496753618

THE CARDINAL: A Novel of Love and Power by Alison Weir (Historical Fiction)
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s rise from humble beginnings coincided with young Henry VIII’s ascension to the throne in 1509, and they grew to be cherished friends. By 1515, Wolsey --- now a cardinal --- had become the controlling figure in all matters of church and state. Wolsey operated on an international stage and worked hard to broker universal peace. All was going dazzlingly well until Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn and sought to end his marriage to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. Swept up in the maelstrom of “the Divorce,” Wolsey, who successfully had given his master everything he wanted, found himself in an impossible situation. As he drew the ire of the future queen, the cardinal found his privileged life and his relationship with Henry crumbling around him.
Ballantine Books | 9780593974704

DEEP BREATH written by Rita Halász, translated by Kris Herbert (Fiction)
When we meet Vera, her body and mind are on a precipice. She has just left her marital home to live with her father after her husband’s violent outbursts reach a breaking point. She is experiencing sudden losses of consciousness, spells of insomnia and difficulty eating. Over the course of the year that follows, she reignites a high school romance, looks to her divorced parents for guidance, attempts couples therapy, struggles to mother two young daughters, develops a brief cocaine dependency, and tries to rekindle her artistic practice --- all while questioning the infinite number of choices that led her to this difficult moment.
Catapult | 9781646222681

DISAPPOINT ME by Nicola Dinan (Fiction)
Thirty years old with a lifetime of dysphoria and irritating exes rattling around in her head, Max is plagued by a deep dissatisfaction. Shouldn't these be the best years of her life? Why doesn't it feel that way? After taking a spill down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party, she decides to make some changes. First: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity. Max thinks she’s found the answer in Vincent. While his corporate colleagues, trad friends and Chinese parents never pictured their son dating a trans woman, he cares for Max in a way she’d always dismissed as a foolish fantasy. But he is also carrying baggage of his own. When the fallout of a decades-old entanglement resurfaces, Max must decide what forgiveness really means.
The Dial Press | 9780593977873

DREAMING OF HOME: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change by Cristina Jiménez (Memoir)
Cristina Jiménez’s family fights to stay afloat as Ecuador falls into a political and economic crisis. When she is 13, her parents courageously decide to seek a better life in the U.S., landing in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York. There are many challenges, but eventually, Cristina discovers she is not alone. She finds her calling within a community of social justice organizers. With deep candor and humor, Cristina opens the door to what it’s like to grow up undocumented and the reality that being a “good” immigrant doesn’t shield you from systematic racism, danger, or even the confusion of falling in love.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250275660

HARMATTAN SEASON by Tochi Onyebuchi (Hard-boiled Noir/Historical Fantasy)
Work has dried up for veteran and private eye Boubacar, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust. But Bouba is a down-on-his-luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds. When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hard-won clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden and decide what he’s willing to offer next.
Tor Books | 9781250782977

HIDDEN NATURE by Nora Roberts (Romantic Suspense)
Natural Resources police officer Sloan Cooper and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store --- and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world. After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead. When a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. The missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening. Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250370853

LAY YOUR ARMOR DOWN by Michael Farris Smith (Fiction)
An old woman, riddled with dementia, walks off into the woods in the middle of the night. A light in the wood draws her to a campfire with two strange, dangerous men, one young and one old, who are there plotting a crime of as-yet-indeterminate purpose. The two men have a job to do. They are hunting something precious but have only been told: You’ll know it when you see it. When they arrive at the place, an abandoned church cellar in the burned-out countryside, they find an answer they never could have predicted. Now, the job feels dubious, one that’ll surely bring them to ruin. Yet if they’re to go against orders, no step can be undone, and nothing can be taken back.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316573375

MANSION BEACH by Meg Mitchell Moore (Fiction)
It’s the beginning of the summer, and Nicola Carr has just arrived on Block Island, RI, eager for a fresh start and some R&R. But her plans for a tranquil summer are derailed as the extravagant parties from the grand home next door pique her curiosity. She soon discovers that the home belongs to Juliana George, an enigmatic entrepreneur with a past shrouded in mystery. Juliana George, CEO and founder of a hot fashion-tech company, is at the top of her game. She’s spending the summer on Block Island preparing for a major IPO. But she’s chasing her dreams in more ways than one. This summer she hopes to rekindle a flame with a man from her past --- a man who has a surprising connection to her neighbor, Nicola.
William Morrow | 9780063336964

THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD BEACH AND BOOK CLUB by Martha Hall Kelly (Historical Fiction)
Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.
Ballantine Books | 9780593354919

NEVER FLINCH by Stephen King (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are 14 citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend, Holly Gibney, for help. Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard.
Scribner | 9781668089330

RETURN TO SENDER: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
When Blair McGowan, the mail person with the longest postal route in the country of over 300 miles a day, goes missing, the question becomes: Where do you look for her? The Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming elicits Sheriff Walt Longmire to mount an investigation into her disappearance, and Walt does everything but mail it in. Posing as a letter carrier himself, the good sheriff follows her trail and finds himself enveloped in the intrigue of an otherworldly cult.
Viking | 9780593830703

THE SOUTH by Tash Aw (Fiction)
When his grandfather dies, Jay travels south with his family to the property they’ve inherited, a once flourishing farm that has fallen into disrepair. The trees are diseased, the fields parched from months of drought. Jay’s father, Jack, sends him out to work the land, or whatever land is left. Over the course of these hot, dense days, Jay finds himself drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager, different from him in every way except for one. Out in the fields, and on the streets into town, the charge between the boys intensifies. Inside the house, the other family members begin to confront their own secrets and regrets.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374616281

WRITTEN ON THE DARK by Guy Gavriel Kay (Historical Fantasy/Adventure)
Thierry Villar is a well-known tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins and invading armies. But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction. As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king --- and help his forces in war.
Ace | 9780593953983

On Sale the Week of May 26th in Paperback

May 27th

ALONG CAME AMOR by Alexis Daria (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
After Ava Rodriguez’s now-ex-husband declares he wants to “follow his dreams” --- which no longer include her --- she’s left questioning everything she thought she wanted. So when a handsome hotelier flirts with her, Ava vows to stop overthinking and embrace the opportunity for an epic one-night-stand. Roman Vázquez’s sole focus is the empire he built from the ground up. He lives and dies by his schedule, but the gorgeous stranger grimacing into her cocktail inspires him to change his plans for the evening. At first, it’s easy for Roman to agree to Ava’s rules: no strings, no feelings. But one night isn’t enough, and the more they meet, the more he wants. Roman is the perfect fling, until Ava sees him at her cousin’s engagement party --- as the groom’s best man, no less!
Avon | 9780062960009

ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS by Rob Hart (Thriller)
Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life’s work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind and joined a 12-step group for reformed killers. When Mark is viciously attacked by an unknown assailant, he is forced on the run. From New York to Singapore to London, he chases after clues while dodging attacks and trying to solve the puzzle of who’s after him. All without killing anyone. Or getting killed himself. For an assassin, Mark learns, nonviolence is a real hassle.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593717417

THE BURNING by Linda Castillo (Mystery/Thriller)
Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is summoned to a suspicious fire in the woods, where she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased --- an Amish man named Milan Swanz --- was chained to a stake and burned alive. Kate knows all too well that the Amish prefer to handle their problems without interference from the outside world, and no one will speak about the murdered man. From what she’s able to piece together, Swanz led a deeply troubled life and recently had been excommunicated. When her own brother is implicated in the case, Kate finds herself not only at odds with the Amish, the world of which she was once a part, but also the English community and her counterparts in law enforcement. The investigation takes a violent turn when Kate’s life is threatened by a mysterious stranger.
Minotaur Books | 9781250382023

THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB by Freya Sampson (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center. But the five members disagree on everything, and a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk. Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when he disappears and a dead body turns up at his house. Agatha Christie superfan Phyllis is determined to prove Michael has been framed, while romance reader Arthur believes there’s a mystery woman involved, and teenage sci-fi fan Ash thinks dark forces are at play. While trying to locate Michael, solve the murder and recover the stolen money, each of them has their own secrets to protect.
Berkley | 9780593550557

CLETE: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke (Thriller)
Clete Purcel is Dave Robicheaux’s longtime friend and partner in detective work. But he has a troubled past. When Clete leaves his car at the local car wash, only to return to find it ransacked by a group of thugs tied to the drug trade from Mexican cartels to Louisiana, it feels personal. Just as Clete starts to trail the culprits, Clara Bow hires Clete to investigate her scheming ex-husband, and a string of brutal deaths all link back to a heavily tattooed man who seems to lurk around every corner. Clete is experiencing shockingly lifelike hallucinations and questioning Clara’s ulterior motives when he and Dave start to hear rumors of a dangerous substance with potentially catastrophic effects. The thugs who destroyed his car might have been pawns in a scheme far darker than they could have imagined.
Grove Press | 9780802165237

A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA by Christina Dodd (Historical Mystery)
Once upon a time, a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended (hint: badly). Only here’s the thing: That’s not how it ended at all. Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, a certified spinster at 20. Each time they’ve presented me with a betrothal, I’ve set out to find the groom-to-be a more suitable bride. But their latest match, Duke Stephano, isn’t so easy to palm off on anyone else. At our betrothal ball, I stumble upon the Duke with a dagger in his chest. But who killed him? Half of Verona had motive. And when everyone around the Duke begins dying, disappearing or descending into madness, I know I must uncover the killer…before death lies on me like an untimely frost.
A John Scognamiglio Book | 9781496750174

A DEAD DRAW by Robert Dugoni (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Detective Tracy Crosswhite isn’t one to lose her cool. Until her interrogation of the taunting and malicious Erik Schmidt, a suspect in two cold case killings. Schmidt also has unnerving ties to the monster who murdered Tracy’s sister, stirring memories of the crime that shaped Tracy’s life. After a critical mistake during a shooting exercise, Tracy breaks. Haunted by nightmares and flashbacks, Tracy heads to her hometown of Cedar Grove to refocus. But her sleepless nights are only beginning. A legal glitch has allowed Schmidt to go free. And Tracy has every reason to fear that he has followed her. Forced into a twisted game of cat and mouse, Tracy must draw on all her training, wits and strength to defeat a master criminal before he takes away everyone she loves.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662524738

DEN OF INIQUITY: A J. P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
Former Seattle homicide cop J. P. Beaumont faces trouble in the small town of Ashland, as both his personal and professional lives are thrown into turmoil. Beau’s daughter and son-in-law are having marital troubles, and his grandson, a senior in high school, shows up on his doorstep, wanting to live with Beau and his wife, Mel, as he finishes out the school year. Meanwhile, a friend from his past asks for Beau’s help in looking into what appears to be an accidental death. A young man died of a fentanyl overdose, but those closest to him are convinced that he would never have used the drug and that something much more sinister has happened. Beau agrees to unofficially reopen the case, and his investigation leads him to uncover similar mysterious deaths that all point to a most unlikely suspect.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063252608

AN EYE FOR AN EYE by Jeffrey Archer (Mystery/Thriller)
In one of the most luxurious cities on earth, a billion-dollar deal is about to go badly wrong. A lavish night out is about to end in murder. And the British government is about to be plunged into crisis. Lord Hartley, the latest in a line of peers going back over 200 years, lies dying. But his will triggers an inheritance with explosive consequences. Two deaths. Continents apart. No obvious connection. So why are they both at the center of a master criminal's plot for revenge? And can Scotland Yard's elite squad uncover the truth before it's too late?
HarperCollins | 9780008731410

FIRST FROST: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
It’s the summer of 1964, and recent college graduates Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear enlist to serve in the Vietnam War. As they catch a few final waves in California before reporting for duty, a sudden storm assaults the shores and capsizes a nearby cargo boat. Walt and Henry jump to action, but it’s soon revealed by the police who greet them ashore that the sunken boat carried valuable contraband from underground sources. The boys head out on Route 66. The question, of course, is how far they will get before the consequences of their actions catch up to them. Back in the present day, Walt is forced to speak before a judge following the fatal events of THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE. With powerful enemies lurking behind the scenes, the sheriff of Absaroka County must consider his options if he wishes to finish the fight he started.
Penguin Books | 9780593830697

THE GRAVEDIGGER’S ALMANAC written by Oliver Pötzsch, translated by Lisa Reinhardt (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
Vienna, 1893. A gravedigger at the city’s famous Central Cemetery, Augustin Rothmayer is an unorthodox yet highly educated oddball who finds solace amongst the dead, as well as in writing the pages of the first almanac of his profession. But his fragile peace is abruptly disturbed when young inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt, an ambitious young transfer from Graz, arrives in need of help from someone expert in death. No one knows the subject better than Augustin Rothmeyer. A superstitious killer is on the loose. His victims include several maids, each brutally staked. Recognizing the killer is using an ancient ritual for keeping the undead buried, the gravedigger joins the inspector on a journey that will take them deep into the underworld of their glamorous cosmopolitan city.
HarperVia | 9780063348349

THE GREAT DIVIDE by Cristina Henríquez (Fiction)
It is said that the Panama Canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. For Francisco, a local fisherman who resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country, nothing is more upsetting than the decision of his son, Omar, to work as a digger in the excavation zone. Ada Bunting is a bold 16-year-old from Barbados who arrives in Panama as a stowaway alongside thousands of other West Indians seeking work. When she sees Omar, who has collapsed after a grueling shift, she is the only one who rushes to his aid. John Oswald has dedicated his life to scientific research and has journeyed to Panama with the goal of eliminating malaria. But his wife, Marian, has fallen ill herself, and when he witnesses Ada’s bravery and compassion, he hires her on the spot as a caregiver. This fateful decision sets in motion a sweeping tale of ambition, loyalty and sacrifice.
Ecco | 9780063291331

THE GUEST COTTAGE: A Firefly Summer Novel by Lori Foster (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Marlow Heddings is starting over. She has carried the outrage of her husband Dylan’s affair with a younger woman --- and the expectations of his family’s powerful Chicago holdings company --- long enough. Now, after another devastating twist of fate, she is unapologetically moving on. Arriving in tiny Bramble, Kentucky, Marlow revels in her freedom, swapping her executive suits for sundresses...and scouting places to open her dream boutique. Best of all is her new residence, an adorable cottage with gorgeous lake views --- and a breathtaking landlord, former Marine Cort Easton. Soon they’re sharing dockside morning coffee and nighttime firefly gazing. Marlow’s new life feels like a dream. Then Pixie Nolan arrives on her doorstep. With a shocking secret.
Kensington | 9781496752352

HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Joyce Maynard (Fiction)
Following the death of her former husband, Cam, 54-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface. HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN follows Eleanor and her family through 15 years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship).
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062398314

IT’S A LOVE STORY by Annabel Monaghan (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as "Poor Janey Jakes," the punch line on America's fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s trying to be taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she claimed that she could get mega popstar Jack Quinlan to write a song for the movie. Jack may have been her first kiss --- and greatest source of shame --- but she hasn’t spoken to him in 20 years. Now Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan as she faces down her past is Jane's idea of hell, but he just might surprise her.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593714102

JOY by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Sent to live in her grandparents’ joyless home after her parents abandon her, Allegra Dixon finds her only solace through an escape into books. Attending boarding school, life finally takes a turn when she meets a dashing young West Point cadet named Shep Williams. Soon their friendship blossoms into something more, and they fall deeply in love. After college, Allegra has established herself as a book editor, and Shep is rising through the ranks of the military. But then Shep suddenly receives a posting to Afghanistan, and they decide to marry before he goes. Between his deployments, they cling to their brief and fraught stolen moments together. Each time he leaves, Shep promises the separations will come to an end. But soon Allegra realizes that the horrors of war have begun to change her husband into a man she no longer recognizes.
Dell | 9780593498637

MOVE LIKE WATER: My Story of the Sea by Hannah Stowe (Memoir)
As a young girl, Hannah Stowe was raised at the tide’s edge on the Pembrokeshire coast of Wales, falling asleep to the sweep of the lighthouse beam. Now in her mid-20s, working as a marine biologist and sailor, Stowe draws on her professional experiences sailing tens of thousands of miles in the North Sea, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Celtic Sea and the Caribbean to explore the human relationship with wild waters. Why is it, she asks, that she and so many others have been drawn to life at sea --- and what might the water around us be able to teach us? In MOVE LIKE WATER, Stowe invites readers to fall in love, as she has, with the sea and those that call it home, and to discover the majesty, wonder and vulnerability of the underwater world.
Tin House Books | 9781963108255

PROBLEMATIC SUMMER ROMANCE by Ali Hazelwood (Romance)
Paperback Original
Maya Killgore is 23 and still in the process of figuring out her life. Conor Harkness is 38, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life. But not everything is as it seems --- and clichés sometimes become plot twists. When Maya’s brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs --- even if it’s a problematic one.
Berkley | 9798217187430

THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden (Historical Fiction)
It is 1961, and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be --- led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother, Louis, brings his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house, Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation --- leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668034354

SANDWICH by Catherine Newman (Fiction/Humor)
For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals and messes of all kinds. This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past --- except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing; her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends her into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.
Harper Perennial | 9780063345171

THE SPELLSHOP by Sarah Beth Durst (Fantasy/Romance)
As a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, Kiela and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers a nosy neighbor who keeps showing up to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have --- jam --- and her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. She risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop.
Bramble | 9781250324603

STUART WOODS’ GOLDEN HOUR: A Teddy Fay Novel Featuring Stone Barrington by Brett Battles (Thriller/Adventure)
Teddy Fay is ready to embark on the European press tour of Peter Barrington’s latest film, Storm’s Eye, when he receives an unexpected visit from Lance Cabot, director of the CIA. Several CIA agents have been turning up dead. The commonality? They were all part of a mission Teddy was involved in: Golden Hour. Lance wants Teddy to use his trip as a cover to investigate who is behind these killings. From Venice and Budapest to their last stop at a film festival in Berlin, Teddy must dodge excited fans, enamored women, and a few too many assassins who seem dead set on tracking down Golden Hour agents. And if Teddy doesn’t work fast enough, his identity --- and life --- just might be the next target in the killer’s ruthless plot for revenge.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593331620

A TALENT FOR MURDER by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her work as a librarian in Maine. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured salesman whose job took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger. A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern --- five unsolved cases of murdered women. Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063205048

VERY BAD COMPANY by Emma Rosenblum (Mystery/Dark Humor)
Every year, executives at the trendy tech startup Aurora gather the company’s top employees for an exclusive retreat in Miami, and this year Caitlin Levy --- Aurora’s newest hire --- is joining the team as head of events. The benefits are outstanding: a seven-figure salary, stock shares, a discretionary bonus, limitless vacation days. What could possibly go wrong? When a fellow high-level executive vanishes after the first night, the disappearance has the potential to derail the future of the company’s sale and cost everyone on the team millions. Now more than ever, Caitlin and her colleagues must continue the charade --- partaking in team-building exercises, group brainstorms, dinners --- in order to keep the future of Aurora afloat amid all the fatal speculations.
Flatiron Books | 9781250906571

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED by Frances White (Mystery/Fantasy)
For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a 12-day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain. Aboard are the 12 heirs of the provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing. All except one: Ganymedes Piscero --- class clown, slacker and all-around disappointment. When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people and without a Blessing to protect him, Ganymedes’ odds of survival are slim. But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their secret Blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?
Mira | 9780778387909

WHISPERS OF DEAD GIRLS by Marlee Bush (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Ten years have passed, and Ren Taylor is back at square one, having accepted a job at her old high school. She'd hoped to make peace with the past, but now she's thrust back into it: her murdered teenage sister is still immortalized in town, and Ren can't stop seeing her wherever she goes. She's dogged by the scandal that ruined her childhood and killed her sister. Then Ren meets physics teacher Bryson Lewis. Handsome and charismatic, all the other teachers and students seem to fall at his feet. But Ren knows men like him --- she knows they can't be trusted. The more Ren watches him, the more suspicious she becomes. And when she notices his close relationship with a girl in one of his classes --- a girl just like her sister --- she worries history is about to repeat itself.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728289564

THE WIDE WIDE SEA: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (History)
On July 12, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship, the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Hampton Sides’ bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s.
Vintage | 9780525565703

YOU ARE HERE by David Nicholls (Romance/Humor)
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house. Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by. When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of 10-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.
Harper Perennial | 9780063394063

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