October 21, 2025

October 21, 2025

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 20th and October 27th 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 Historical Fiction Author Spotlight & Contest for CALDER STRONG, the fifth installment in Janet Dailey’s Calder Brand series. The epic tale of the settling of the American West comes to vivid life in this inspiring saga of love, hope and endurance. We are awarding 25 readers a copy of the book, which is set in 1929 Blue Moon, Montana, and is perfect for fans of “Yellowstone” who crave western familial sagas. The deadline for your entries is Friday, October 31st at noon ET.

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This Week's Bonus News:
Our Historical Fiction Author Spotlight & Contest for
CALDER STRONG by Janet Dailey
Enter to Win One of 25 Copies

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, October 22nd at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Catherine Newman about her new book, WRECK. Full of laughter and heart, this wonderful novel is about marriage, family, and what happens when life doesn’t go as planned.

Wednesday, October 22nd at 8pm ET: “Bookaccino Live” Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Paula Hawkins about her thriller, THE BLUE HOUR, a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick that is now available in paperback. Paula also will answer questions from guests who will be “on stage,” as well as from other members of the audience.

Monday, October 27th at 7pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny for a live virtual discussion of THE BLACK WOLF, the 20th installment in her award-winning Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. Louise will be in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Will Schwalbe.

Tuesday, October 28th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle and Kaira Rouda will talk to fellow “Killer Author” Heather Gudenkauf about her latest gripping thriller, THE PERFECT HOSTS, in which a couple’s gender reveal party turns deadly --- and everyone is a suspect.

On Sale the Week of October 20th in Hardcover

October 21st

BAD BAD GIRL by Gish Jen (Historical Fiction)
Gish’s mother, Loo Shu-hsin, is born in 1924 to a wealthy Shanghai. Her beloved nursemaid is torn from her even as she is constantly reprimanded: “Bad bad girl! You don’t know how to talk!” Sent to a modern Catholic school by her progressive father, she receives not only an English name --- Agnes --- but a first-rate education. Agnes finds solace in books and, in 1947, announces her intention to pursue a PhD in America. As the Communist revolution looms, she sets sail --- never to return. Lonely and adrift in New York, she begins dating Jen Chao-Pe, an engineering student. They do their best to block out the increasingly dire plight of their families back home and successfully establish a new American life. By the time Gish is born, though, the news from China is proving inescapable; their marriage is foundering; and Agnes recapitulates the harshness of her own childhood.
Knopf | 9780593803738 

BIG KISS, BYE-BYE by Claire-Louise Bennett (Fiction)
Uprooted by circumstance from city to deep countryside, a woman lives in temporary limbo, visited by memories of all she’s left behind. The most insistent are those of Xavier, who has always been certain he knows her better than anyone, better than she knows herself. Xavier, whom she still loves but no longer desires, a displacement he has been unable to accept. An unexpected letter from an old acquaintance brings back a torrent of others she’s loved or wanted. The ephemera left by their passage --- a spilled coffee, an unwanted bouquet, a mind-blowing kiss --- make up a cabinet of curiosity she inventories, trying to divine the essence of intimacy. What does it mean to connect with another person? What impels us to touch someone, to be touched by them, to stay in touch? How do we let them go?
Riverhead Books | 9798217046645 

A CHRISTMAS WITNESS: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Novella by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
December 1921: Being single and a new Chief, Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard gets the short straw at Christmastime and is called upon by Chief Superintendent Markum to go to the Kentish home of a lord recovering from an attempt on his life. In bed with a concussion, the man is convinced someone is trying to kill him after he claims he was struck by the hoof of a running horse whose rider never stopped to check on him. Struggling with his own demons from the war and misgivings about helping a man who, as a colonel, oversaw the suffering of those on the frontlines from afar, Rutledge undertakes an uneasy investigation. And as the winter holiday approaches, he becomes increasingly convinced that nothing is as it seems.
Mysterious Press | 9781613166895 

DAMAGED PEOPLE: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons by Joe McGinniss Jr. (Memoir)
Joe McGinniss was a paradox: a brilliant writer whose dazzling achievements were overshadowed by personal demons. At age 26, he became the youngest living person to top the New York Times bestseller list, for his book THE SELLING OF THE PRESIDENT, about Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign. Shortly after, he walked out on his wife and their three young children. His oldest son, Joe McGinniss Jr., went on to become a writer himself, known for his critically acclaimed novels THE DELIVERY MAN and CAROUSEL COURT. In DAMAGED PEOPLE, McGinniss Jr. vividly recounts his affectionate yet stormy relationship with his famous father, capturing moments of tenderness and humor amid the chaos and tension.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668004852 

A FERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Avery and Reed Bond grew up sharing a close-knit relationship. Even so, Avery often finds herself exasperated by her brother’s relentless matchmaking, while Reed can’t resist teasing his sister. Facing their first Christmas without their beloved Grams, the woman who lovingly raised them, Reed and Avery decide to spend the holiday together at Reed’s home. However, their plans take an unexpected turn when the ferry Avery is traveling on stalls in the middle of Puget Sound, stranding its passengers and leaving Reed waiting a now undetermined length of time for her arrival. What is at first an inconvenience threatens to ruin the plans of a number of commuters, but Avery and Reed soon discover that this unforeseen delay might end up being a perfectly timed blessing in disguise.
Ballantine Books | 9780593974674 

FINDING MY WAY: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai (Memoir)
Thrust onto the public stage at 15 years old after the Taliban’s brutal attack on her life, Malala Yousafzai quickly became an international icon known for bravery and resilience. But away from the cameras and crowds, she spent years struggling to find her place in an unfamiliar world. Now, for the first time ever, Malala takes us beyond the headlines. FINDING MY WAY is a story of friendship and first love, of anxiety and self-discovery, of trying to stay true to yourself when everyone wants to tell you who you are. In it, Malala traces her path from high school loner to reckless college student to a young woman at peace with her past. Through candid, often messy moments --- like nearly failing exams, getting ghosted, and meeting the love of her life --- Malala reminds us that real role models aren’t perfect. They’re human.
Atria Books | 9781668054277 

GIRL DINNER by Olivie Blake (Horror/Dark Humor)
Every member of The House --- the most exclusive sorority on campus --- and all its alumni are beautiful, high-achieving and universally respected. After a freshman year she would like to forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows that being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner's new position at the cutthroat University. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that she so desperately craves. As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs.
Tor Books | 9781250883452 

KING SORROW by Joe Hill (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine. But his idyll --- and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot --- is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library. Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year --- or become his next meal.
William Morrow | 9780062200600

THE LAND OF SWEET FOREVER: Stories and Essays by Harper Lee
(Short Stories/Essays) 
THE LAND OF SWEET FOREVER combines Harper Lee’s early short fiction and later nonfiction in a volume that offers an unprecedented look at the development of her inimitable voice. Covering territory from the Alabama schoolyards of Lee’s youth to the luncheonettes and movie houses of midcentury Manhattan, the book invites still-vital conversations about politics, equality, travel, love, fiction, art, the American South, and what it means to lead an engaged and creative life. This collection comes with an introduction by Casey Cep, Lee’s appointed biographer, which provides illuminating background for our reading of these stories and connects them both to Lee’s life and to her two novels, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and GO SET A WATCHMAN.
Harper | 9780063460515

NOBODY'S GIRL: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (Memoir)
The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words --- until now. In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. In NOBODY’S GIRL, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at 19. 
Knopf | 9780593493120

THE PROVING GROUND: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly (Legal Thriller)
Following his “resurrection walk” and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a 16-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty. Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails. Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy, who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it. But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimately delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316563826 

RACEBOOK: A Personal History of the Internet by Tochi Onyebuchi
(Memoir/Essays) 
When Tochi Onyebuchi realized that his acclaimed science fiction and fantasy storytelling career had been centrally preoccupied with race, it prompted him to consider his responsibilities as a Black writer in the Internet age. Excavating the Internet of the late 1990s and early 2000s, RACEBOOK explores how the writer and public intellectual Onyebuchi is today was formed in that crucible. Beginning with the current moment when everything, including personal identity, is a matter of dispute, and tracing his online persona in reverse chronological order back to Web 1.0’s promises of greater equality and a bright digital future, Onyebuchi deftly examines the evolution of internet culture and the ways that culture has shifted in the ensuing decades. 
Roxane Gay Books | 9780802166258

RUNNING DEEP: Bravery, Survival, and the True Story of the Deadliest Submarine in World War II by Tom Clavin (History)
There was one submarine that outfought all other boats in the Silent Service in World War II: the USS Tang. Captain Richard Hetherington O’Kane commanded the attack submarine that sunk more tonnage, rescued more downed aviators, and successfully completed more surface attacks than any other American submarine. The Tang achieved its greatest success on October 24, 1944, when it took on an entire Japanese convoy and destroyed it. But its 24th and last torpedo boomeranged, returning to strike the Tang. Mortally wounded, the boat sunk. After hours of struggle, nine of the 87 crewmen, including O’Kane, made it to the surface. Captured by the Japanese, the Tang sailors joined other submariners and flyers at a “torture camp,” where O’Kane was a special target. Against all odds, when the camp was liberated in August 1945, O’Kane still lived.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250374479 

THE TEN YEAR AFFAIR by Erin Somers (Fiction)
When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to engage in an affair. But as their lives continue to intertwine, the romantic tension between them becomes all-consuming --- until their worlds unravel into two parallel timelines. In one, they pursue their feelings. In the other, they resist. As reality splits, the everyday details of Cora’s life --- her depressing marketing job, her daughter’s new fascination with the afterlife, her husband’s obsession with podcasts about the history of rope --- gain fresh perspective. The intersecting and diverging timelines blur the boundaries of reality and fantasy, questioning what might have been and what truly matters.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668081440 

THIS IS THE ONLY KINGDOM by Jaquira Díaz (Fiction)
When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, the beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself; Rey; his young brother, Tito; and, eventually, their daughter, Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything. Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming.
Algonquin Books | 9781616209148 

THE WIDOW by John Grisham (Legal Thriller/Mystery)
Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it. Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t commit: murder. Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer.
Doubleday | 9780385548984 

WILD ANIMAL written by Joël Dicker, translated by Robert Bononno (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
On July 2, 2022, two criminals set out to rob a jewelry shop in Geneva. But even with a foolproof plan, their “perfect” heist will prove far from uneventful. Twenty days earlier, on a luxurious estate along the shores of Lake Geneva, Sophie Braun prepares to celebrate her 40th birthday. Her life seems perfect, but her idyllic world is about to crumble. Her husband is becoming embroiled in petty schemes. Her neighbor, a policeman with a spotless reputation, is obsessed with her and spies on the most intimate moments of her life. Then, on her birthday, she receives a gift from a mysterious prowler that endangers her life. It will take many journeys into the past, far from Geneva, to unravel the origins of this diabolical plot from which no one will emerge unscathed.
HarperVia | 9780063426023 

WINSTON AND THE WINDSORS: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty by Andrew Morton (Biography)
In WINSTON AND THE WINDSORS, Andrew Morton, one of the world’s best-known biographers and a leading authority on celebrity, presents a meticulously researched joint biography of Winston Churchill and the House of Windsor. Throughout the course of his career and life, Churchill’s connection to the Windsors fluctuated wildly. At times, he was the royal family’s trusted confidant. At others, he was their leading antagonist. In exploring the complex dynamic between the two, Morton argues that, regardless of whether the attitudes of the royal family were warm or icy toward Churchill, their relationship was central to the 20th-century history of the British monarchy.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335250995 

WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL by Sue Monk Kidd (Memoir/Self-Help)
When Sue Monk Kidd was in high school, a home economics teacher wrote a list of potential occupations for women on the blackboard: teacher, nurse, librarian, secretary. “Writer” was nowhere to be found. On that day, Kidd shut the door on her writerly aspirations and would not revisit the topic until many years later when she announced to her husband and two children that she was going to become a writer. And so began her journey into the mysteries and methods of the writerly life. In WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL, Sue Monk Kidd pulls from her own life and the lives of other writers --- including Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou and Harper Lee --- to provide a map for anyone who has ever felt lost as a writer.
Knopf | 9780593804643

On Sale the Week of October 20th in Paperback

October 21st

ABSOLUTION: A Southern Reach Novel by Jeff VanderMeer (Speculative Fiction)
ABSOLUTION opens decades before Area X forms, with a science expedition whose mysterious end suggests terrifying consequences for the future --- and marks the Forgotten Coast as a high priority for Central, the shadowy federal agency that monitors extraordinary threats. Many years later, the Forgotten Coast files wind up in the hands of a washed-up Central operative, Old Jim. He starts pulling a thread that reveals a long, troubling record of government agents meddling with forces they clearly cannot comprehend. Old Jim’s investigation culminates in the first Central expedition into what has now been labeled Area X. A border has come down, and a full team has been assembled to find Area X’s “off switch” somewhere in the volatile, dangerous terrain that has defied all attempts to be explored, mapped or controlled.
Picador | 9781250397805

AMERICAN HEROES by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, with Tim Malloy (Biography)
U.S. soldiers who served in overseas conflicts --- from World War II, Korea and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan --- share true stories of the actions that earned them some of America’s most distinguished military medals, up to and including the Medal of Honor. They never acted alone, but always in the spirit of camaraderie, patriotism and for the good of our beloved country. There has never been a better time for all of us to think about duty, sacrifice and what it means to be an American hero.
Little, Brown and Company | 9781538710906

BANDIT HEAVEN: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West by Tom Clavin (History)
Robbers Roost, Brown’s Hole and Hole-in-the-Wall were three hideouts that collectively were known to outlaws as “Bandit Heaven.” During the 1880s and ‘90s, these remote locations in Wyoming and Utah harbored hundreds of train and bank robbers, horse and cattle thieves, the occasional killer, and anyone else with a price on his head. Tom Clavin's BANDIT HEAVEN is the entertaining story of these tumultuous times and the colorful characters who rode the Outlaw Trail through the frigid mountain passes and throat-parching deserts that connected the three hideouts --- well-guarded enclaves that no sensible lawman would enter.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250852557

DEADLY ANIMALS by Marie Tierney (Mystery/Thriller)
Ava Bonney is a compassionate and studious 14-year-old girl with a dark secret: she has an obsessive interest in the macabre. She is fascinated by the rate at which dead animals decompose. The highway she lives by regularly offers up gifts of roadkill, and in the dead of night she loves nothing more than to pull her latest discovery into her roadside den and record her findings. One night, she stumbles across the body of her classmate. Fearing that her secret ritual could be revealed, she makes an anonymous call to the police. But when Detective Seth Delahaye is given the case, Ava won’t step back --- not while teenagers continue to go missing. Racing alongside the police or against them, Ava is determined to figure out who is hunting her classmates before she becomes the next prey.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250357618

THE DEADLY BOOK CLUB by Lyn Liao Butler (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Five of the most prominent book influencers in the US make up an exclusive virtual book club that’s the envy of the online book world. Once a month, they get on a video call to sip cocktails, chat about social media campaigns and book events, and discuss their monthly book club pick. Until one meeting, when all of their screens freeze, and they listen to gut-wrenching screams as one of them is brutally attacked. As the investigation unearths secrets each of them needs to keep buried, the jealousies, hidden resentments, and trouble in their personal lives begin to surface. The remaining four women are suspicious of each other, pointing fingers to take the heat off their own indiscretions. But if they want to figure out who killed their friend, they need to band together and put past hurts behind them. Or one of them will be next.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892422918

THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS by Alexandria Bellefleur (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
In less than 24 hours, Samantha Cooper’s life has unraveled, leaving her single and with nowhere to live. Adding insult to injury, she’s trapped in an elevator with a gorgeous woman claiming to be a demon. Daphne is here to offer Samantha a deal she can’t refuse: six wishes in exchange for one tiny trade --- Samantha’s soul. There’s a glaring loophole in their contract, one Samantha fully intends to exploit so she doesn’t fork over her soul. Hell-bent to gather the last of the 1,000 souls she needs so that she can be free of her own devilish deal, Daphne grants each of Samantha’s wishes…with a twist, so that Samantha is forced to make another. As Samantha’s wishes dwindle and Daphne offers her glimpses into the life she thought she wanted, the unlikely pair grows close. But they will have to outsmart the Devil himself if they want a chance at happily ever after.
Berkley | 9780593952504

DOGS AND MONSTERS: Stories by Mark Haddon (Fiction/Short Stories)
Greek myths have fascinated people for millennia, seeing in them lessons about fate and hubris and the contingency of existence. Mark Haddon digs into the heart of these ancient fables and sees them anew. These tales cover a vast range, from the mythic to the domestic, from ancient Greece to the present day, from stories about love to stories about cruelty, from battlefields to bed and breakfasts, from dogs in space to doors between worlds --- all of them bound together by a profound sympathy and an understanding of how human beings act, think and feel when pushed to the very edge.
Vintage | 9780593688236

THE EIGHT HEARTBREAKS OF HANUKKAH by Jean Meltzer (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah planned: eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of A Christmas Carol. But an accident on set lands her in the medical bay with one of her chronic migraines, and she’s shocked to find her ex-husband, David Adler, filling in for the usual studio doctor. It’s been two years since David walked away from Evelyn. But when Evelyn begins hallucinating “ghosts” tied to her past heartbreaks, and every single one leads to David, he finds himself spending much more time with her than he anticipated. And denying the still-smoldering chemistry between them becomes impossible. As Evelyn revisits her ghosts of Hanukkah past, she and David both begin to wonder if they can have a Hanukkah future.
Mira | 9780778334422

GOOD SPIRITS by B.K. Borison (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan Callahan intends to spend this holiday haunting like every other --- get in, get out, return to his otherwise aimless existence as a ghost awaiting the afterlife. But when he’s faced with Harriet York, he suddenly finds himself wishing for a future. Harriet York has no idea why she’s being haunted. She’s a good person --- or, at least, she tries to be. A people pleaser to her core, she always does what’s expected of her. But as she and Nolan begin to examine her past, they discover there are threads that bind them together --- and realize there might be more to moving on than expected. With the deadline of Christmas Eve fast approaching, will they find the key to their futures in each other’s pasts? Or will they stay firmly in the present, indulging in their unexpected, spirited connection?
Avon | 9780063430402

I AM CLEOPATRA by Natasha Solomons (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
The favored daughter of the Pharaoh, Egyptian Princess Cleopatra spent her childhood hiding amid the scrolls in the great library of Alexandria, dreaming of one day writing her own story. When her father dies, naming both Cleopatra and her selfish brother, Ptolemy, as his successors to the throne, danger arises. While the young Queen sails the Nile to greet her people, her brother plots to eliminate her and rule the empire alone. But while Ptolemy has the power of the kingdom behind him, Cleopatra has her cunning wits. When the great Caesar arrives from Rome, she realizes he could be the key to her salvation --- though courting this powerful man could cost her everything. Can Cleopatra save her life, her throne and her beloved Egypt, and finally write her own history?
Harper Perennial | 9780063449756

IMPOSTOR SYNDROME by Andrew Mayne (Thriller)
Paperback Original
The FBI calls on former agent Jessica Blackwood to look at a puzzling crime. A wildlife officer has found the body of a popular YouTuber encased in an obelisk made of salt in a remote refuge. When the agency is tipped off to a second body, that of a TikTok star chained to the bottom of Nevada’s Pyramid Lake --- her hands clasped in prayer --- Jessica recruits a trusted colleague of her own: Floridian underwater investigator Sloan McPherson. It appears to be the work of a ritualistic serial killer preying on influencers. That tracks when a third victim --- a fantasy-game live streamer --- barely survives a pipe bomb attack. As the threats multiply across the country, Jessica and Sloan fear they’re playing with something more extreme than they imagined: a killer’s endgame that could be nothing less than apocalyptic.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662522505

KARLA’S CHOICE: A Novel of John le Carré's Circus by Nick Harkaway (Historical Thriller)
It is spring in 1963, and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war against the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor that Smiley might almost be happy. But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But in his absence, the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley soon finds himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come and set him on a collision course with the greatest enemy he will ever make.
Penguin Books | 9780593833513

MY GOOD BRIGHT WOLF: A Memoir by Sarah Moss (Memoir)
A girl must watch her figure but never be vain. She must be intelligent but never a know-it-all. She must be ambitious, if she is clever, but not in a way that shows. She must cook and sew and make do and mend. She must know (but never say) that these skills are, in some fundamental way, flawed and frivolous --- feminine. Girls must stay small, even as they grow. Women must show restraint.  And yet. In books, in the landscape of imagination, a girl can run free. Here, with MY GOOD BRIGHT WOLF, Sarah Moss takes on these rules, these lessons from the fables of girlhood, and uses them to fearlessly investigate the nature of memory, the lure of self-control, the impact of privilege, scarcity, parents and love.
Picador | 9781250397713

OLD KING by Maxim Loskutoff (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1976, Duane Oshun finds himself stranded in a remote Montana town beset by a series of strange and menacing events. He takes a job as a logger and builds a cabin on an isolated road near a reclusive neighbor --- a hermit named Ted Kaczynski. The two men are captivated by the valley’s endangered old-growth forest, but Kaczynski’s violent grievances against modern society soon threaten the lives of all those around him. As Kaczynski’s bombs crescendo to the book’s devastating conclusion, OLD KING wrestles with the birth of the modern environmental movement, the accelerating dominion of technology in American life, and a new kind of violence that lives next door.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324110965

ROMAN YEAR: A Memoir by André Aciman (Memoir)
In ROMAN YEAR, André Aciman captures the period of his adolescence that began when he and his family first set foot in Rome, after being expelled from Egypt. Though Aciman’s family had been well-off in Alexandria, all vestiges of their status vanished when they fled, and the author, his younger brother and his deaf mother moved into a rented apartment in Rome’s Via Clelia. Though dejected, Aciman’s mother and brother found their way into life in Rome, while Aciman, still unmoored, burrowed into his bedroom to read one book after the other. The world of novels eventually allowed him to open up to the city and, through them, discover the beating heart of the Eternal City. Aciman’s time in Rome did not last long before he and his family moved across the ocean, but by the time they did, he was leaving behind a city he loved.
Picador | 9781250397683

SOMEONE LIKE US by Dinaw Mengestu (Fiction)
After abandoning his once-promising career as a journalist in search of a new life in Paris, Mamush meets Hannah, a photographer. Now, five years later, with his marriage to Hannah on the verge of collapse, he returns to the close-knit immigrant Ethiopian community of Washington, DC, that defined his childhood. At its center is Mamush’s stoic, implacable mother, and Samuel, the larger-than-life father figure whose ceaseless charm and humor have always served as a cover for a harder, more troubling truth. But on the same day that Mamush arrives home in Washington, Samuel is found dead in his garage. With Hannah and their two-year-old son back in Paris, Mamush sets out on an unexpected journey across America in search of answers to questions he'd been told never to ask.
Vintage | 9780345805676

THIS BOOK WILL BURY ME by Ashley Winstead (Psychological Thriller)
After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho, takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected, and they begin to suspect that the killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728270036

WE THREE QUEENS: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Historical Mystery)
It's late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie's husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do. But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds. Trying to keep Mrs. Simpson hidden while raising a newborn baby seems like it couldn't be any more stressful for the Rannochs, until one of the stars of the film is found murdered on set. Georgie must solve the murder for king and country before scandal threatens to envelop them all.
Berkley | 9780593641378

On Sale the Week of October 27th in Hardcover

October 28th

AFTER THAT, THE DARK: A Cameron Winter Mystery by Andrew Klavan (Hard-boiled Mystery)
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a solid citizen named Owen McKay suddenly went mad and killed his wife and child. Locked in a padded cell and monitored on video, he was nonetheless discovered dead from a projectile fired into his head. As Cameron Winter begins to ask questions, he finds that Tulsa officials have been intimidated into silence by a killer who once tried to attack Winter during his days as a government assassin. What’s more, another mysterious death --- just like McKay’s --- has taken place in Connecticut. And both murders seem linked to a sinister billionaire who once clashed with Winter’s old mentor, the Recruiter. Winter’s past and present are coming together in a single dangerous conspiracy.
Mysterious Press | 9781613166864

THE BLACK WOLF by Louise Penny (Mystery)
Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf. But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Armand has realized that plot was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he in fact arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there? Armand is appalled to think that his mistake has allowed their conspiracy to grow, to gather supporters. To spread lies, manufacture enemies, and feed hatred and division. Still recovering from wounds received in stopping the first attack, Armand is confined to the village of Three Pines, leading a covert investigation from there.
Minotaur Books | 9781250328175

BLOOD LIKE OURS by Stuart Neville (Horror/Thriller)
El Paso, Texas: Rebecca Carter awoke on a morgue table with only two desires: to find her daughter, Moonflower, and to sate her gnawing hunger. Rebecca sets out on a desperate quest, fighting her murderous craving for blood and pursued by a vengeful FBI agent. One night, a young man lures Monica Carter through the mountain scrub with the scent of human blood, promising that he and his little brother will feed her and keep her safe. Somehow they know her nickname --- Moonflower --- and the truth of what she is. Can she trust them? When FBI Special Agent Sarah McGrath learns that Rebecca’s body has disappeared from the morgue, she’s on the next plane to El Paso. Rebecca is responsible for the death of her partner, and McGrath wants answers. But she never expected them to come from a shadowy figure within the Bureau.
Hell's Hundred | 9781641297226

THE BONE THIEF by Vanessa Lillie (Mystery/Thriller)
In the hours before dawn at a local summer camp, Bureau of Indian Affairs archaeologist Syd Walker receives an alarming call: newly discovered skeletal remains have been stolen. Not only have bones gone missing, but a Native teen girl has disappeared near the camp, and law enforcement dismisses her family's fears. As Syd investigates both crimes, she's drawn into a world of privileged campers and their wealthy parents --- most of them members of the Founders Society, an exclusive club whose members trace their lineage to the first colonists and claim ancestral rights to the land, despite fierce objections from the local tribal community. And it's not the first time something --- or someone --- has gone missing from the camp. The deeper Syd digs, the more she realizes these aren't isolated incidents.
Berkley | 9780593550144

COYOTE HILLS by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (Mystery/Thriller)
Clay Edison has left behind the Alameda County coroner’s office to strike out on his own as a private investigator. He’s perfectly happy working low-stakes embezzlement cases --- that is, until PI Regina Klein calls him with a mystery only he can solve. The son of a wealthy couple has washed up dead on the shores of San Francisco Bay with drugs in his system and a head injury. The police are calling it an accident. But the parents are adamant that something is not right --- and as Clay digs deeper, he uncovers a horrifying tangle of betrayal and lies.
Ballantine Books | 9780525620174 

DARKER DAYS by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
In Lock Haven, a quiet little town in Washington State, Bird Street is a special place. The residents of this pretty cul-de-sac on the edge of the woods are all successful, healthy and happy. But come November, the “Darker Days” descend, bringing accidents, bad luck, conflict and illness. It is in November when a stranger appears to collect on a longstanding debt. A price must be paid for the good fortune they enjoy the rest of the year. A sacrifice must be made. So it has been for over a century. To assuage their guilt, the residents of Bird Street choose carefully who will be sent into the woods. Usually, it is an elderly or terminally ill individual who wishes to die with dignity and is content to be helped on their way. But this year, things don’t go to plan, and events take a terrifying turn.
Harper | 9780063472518 

DEAD AND ALIVE: Essays by Zadie Smith (Essays)
In this eagerly awaited collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects that have captured her attention in recent years. She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker and Celia Paul. She invites us along to the movies, to see and to think about Tár, and to New York to reflect on the spontaneous moments that connect us. She takes us on a walk down Kilburn High Road in her beloved North West London and welcomes us to mourn with her the passing of writers Joan Didion, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. She considers changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic --- and the meaning of "the commons" in all our lives.
Penguin Press | 9780593834688

THE DEVIL IS A SOUTHPAW by Brandon Hobson (Fiction)
Milton Muleborn has envied Matthew Echota, a talented Cherokee artist, ever since they were locked up together in a dangerous juvenile detention center in the late 1980s. Until Matthew escaped, that is. A novel within a novel, we read here Milton’s dark, sometimes comic and possibly unreliable account of the story of their childhood even as, years later, he remains jealous of Matthew’s extraordinary abilities and unlikely success. Milton reveals secrets about their friendship, their families, and their nightmarish, surreal experience of imprisonment. In revisiting the past, he explores the echoing traumas of incarceration and pride.
Ecco | 9780063259652 

THE EVERLASTING by Alix E. Harrow (Fantasy/Romance)
Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters. But her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory --- failed soldier, struggling scholar --- falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives --- and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs. But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend --- if they want to tell a different story --- they’ll have to rewrite history itself.
Tor Books | 9781250799081

FOX AND FURIOUS by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery)
It’s hunting season in the foothills of Virginia, and “Sister” Jane Arnold is content to spend it alongside her friends, particularly one Olivia Bradford. Olivia is a formidable figure in town --- not least because she keeps the peace between her sons, Winston and Andrew --- but when she passes away, the brothers return to their squabbling ways. Faced with contention over their inheritance, tensions escalate, and the two get into a fierce fight --- and soon after, one of them turns up dead. All eyes turn to the surviving brother, the suspect with the most obvious motive. But Sister can’t fathom that he’s capable of murder, and soon suspects begin to reveal themselves left and right. The more she learns, the more Sister begins to doubt the people she’s hunted with for decades. Could the killer be hiding in plain sight?
Bantam | 9780593874110

THE GREAT CONTRADICTION: The Tragic Side of the American Founding by Joseph J. Ellis (History) 
On the eve of the American Revolution, half a million enslaved African Americans were embedded in the North American population. The slave trade was flourishing, even as the 13 colonies armed themselves to defend against the idea of being governed without consent. This paradox gave birth to what Joseph J. Ellis calls the “great contradiction”: How could a government that had been justified and founded on the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence institutionalize slavery? How could it permit a tidal wave of western migration by settlers who understood the phrase “pursuit of happiness” to mean the pursuit of Indian lands? In THE GREAT CONTRADICTION, Ellis addresses the questions that lie at America’s twisted roots --- questions that turned even the sharpest minds of the Revolutionary generation into mental contortionists.
Knopf | 9780593801413

THE LAST DEATH OF THE YEAR: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Historical Mystery) 
New Year’s Eve, 1932. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool arrive on the tiny Greek island of Lamperos to celebrate the holiday with what turns out to be a rather odd community of locals living in a dilapidated house. A dark sense of foreboding overshadows the beautiful island getaway when the guests play a New Year’s Resolutions game after dinner, and one written resolution gleefully threatens to perform “the last and first death of the year.” Hours later, one of the home’s residents is found dead on the terrace. In light of the shocking murder, Poirot reveals to Catchpool the real reason he’s brought him to the island --- the life of another community member has been threatened. Now both men resolve to ensure that the first murder will be the last.
William Morrow | 9780063424517

LINCOLN'S GHOST: Houdini's War on Spiritualism and the Dark Conspiracy Against the American Presidency by Brad Ricca (History)
During a séance in 1924, Harry Houdini --- the greatest entertainer in the world --- was cursed by a vengeful spirit, who said his days were numbered. Houdini laughed. He believed talking to the dead was impossible. By 1926, Houdini was dead. This is the untold story of the last performance of Harry Houdini, who --- inspired by his hero, Abraham Lincoln --- devotes himself full-time to a personal crusade against Spiritualism, the practice of speaking to the dead. In a spellbinding journey across Jazz Age America, haunted by the aftermath of the Great War and a deadly pandemic, Houdini encounters modern-day haunted houses, warlocks and monsters, and uncovers a shocking conspiracy that stretches all the way to the American presidency --- and to the House of Houdini itself.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250338907 

SACRAMENT by Susan Straight (Fiction)
In August 2020, a group of nurses are working in the ICU at a hospital in San Bernardino at the height of a COVID surge: Larette Embers, whose husband, Grief, is an animal control officer; Cherrise Martinez, whose husband died years ago in a car crash, and whose daughter, Raquel, has been sent to a Coachella date farm to live with her great-aunt to avoid the virus; and Marisol Manalang, born in the Philippines but based in Sacramento. As the nurses struggle with the skyrocketing number of sick patients, Cherisse's daughter goes missing. Grief's friend Johnny Frias, a California Highway Patrol officer, joins the search to find her. The resulting journey leads to new love and loss, pushing all our characters to their breaking points.
Counterpoint | 9781640097131 

THE TIN MEN by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille (Thriller)
Army CID Special Agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor team up for their toughest assignment yet as they are dispatched to Camp Hayden to investigate the death of Major Roger Ames, the chief scientist in charge of the top-secret war games being conducted between a platoon of Army Rangers and a fleet of “lethal autonomous weapons.” Brodie and Taylor must untangle the complex web of alliances, animosities and secret agendas among the men and women of the isolated facility. In a place cut off from the world and exposed to the harsh desert elements, everyone is a suspect. Brodie and Taylor must uncover layers of deception to find the hidden hand behind the murder of Major Ames, and the real purpose of the activities at Camp Hayden and its terrifying arsenal of next-generation weapons.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501101878 

WRECK by Catherine Newman (Fiction/Humor)
If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry --- and relate.) Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband, Nick, and their daughter, Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky’s widowed father, has moved in. It all couldn’t be more ridiculously normal…until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them --- and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won’t affect them at all.
Harper | 9780063453913 

On Sale the Week of October 27th in Paperback

October 28th

6:40 TO MONTREAL by Eva Jurczyk (Literary Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Agatha's husband has bought her a first-class ticket on the scenic six-hour train from Toronto to Montreal as a gift --- a one-day writing retreat so she can get some serious work done on her new book, a highly anticipated follow-up to Agatha's runaway bestselling debut novel. The first-class car is the perfect place to be productive, with only a handful of other passengers, plenty of snacks and drinks, and beautiful views flying by outside the window. But Agatha has other plans for her day out --- plans that are unexpectedly derailed when the train breaks down in the middle of the frigid Canadian woods and one of Agatha's fellow passengers dies quietly in his seat. Soon, a pleasant morning in transit turns into a fight for survival against an unknown and unseen enemy. Will Agatha --- or any of the passengers --- make it out alive?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728295725

ANNE OF AVENUE A by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Eight years ago, Anne Elliot broke Freddie Wentworth’s heart when she refused to give up her five-year plan for the sake of adventure. But despite big dreams, Anne is still living at home with hardly a plan in sight. Now, thanks to her father’s bad spending habits, her childhood apartment is rented out to the very man still living in her head rent-free. Freddie never thought he would see Anne again after she dumped him for accepting a job overseas. So when a job opportunity takes him back to New York, he’s shocked to find out that Anne is not only his new neighbor, but also the former resident of his new Greenwich Village penthouse. When old feelings start rising to the surface, they must decide whether to put their hearts on the line or walk away all over again.
Gallery Books | 9781668097656

BLOOD MOON by Sandra Brown (Romantic Suspense)
Recently divorced and slightly heavy-handed with his liquor, Detective John Bowie does all that he can to cope with the actions taken (or not taken) during the investigation of Crissy Mellin, a teenage girl who disappeared more than three years prior. But now, “Crisis Point,” a long-running true crime television series, is soon to air an episode documenting the unsolved case. Beth Collins, a senior producer on “Crisis Point,” is convinced that Crissy’s disappearance was not an isolated incident. A string of disappearances of teenage girls in nearby areas has only one thing in common: They took place on the night of a blood moon. In a last-ditch effort to find out the truth, Beth enlists Detective Bowie to help her figure out what happened to Crissy and find the true culprit before he acts on the next blood moon --- in four days’ time.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538743003

THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS by Mary E. Pearson (Fantasy/Romance)
After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an “aunt” she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet --- and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm --- the one he is from. Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with the fae leader, Tyghan. But what she doesn't know is that he's the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father --- dead or alive.
Flatiron Books | 9781250331991

DON’T BE A STRANGER by Susan Minot (Fiction)
Ivy Cooper is 52 years old when Ansel Fleming first walks into her life. Twenty years her junior, a musician newly released from prison on a minor drug charge, Ansel’s beguiling good looks and quiet intensity instantly seduce her. Despite the gulf between their ages and experience, the physical chemistry between them is overpowering. Over the heady weeks and months that follow, Ivy finds her life bifurcated by his presence. On the surface she is a responsible mother, managing the demands of friends, an ex-husband and home. But emotionally, psychologically and sexually, she is consumed by desire and increasingly alive only in the stolen moments-out-of-time, with Ansel in her bed.
Vintage | 9780593688489

I WANTED TO BE WONDERFUL by Lihi Lapid (Fiction)
Paperback Original
I WANTED TO BE WONDERFUL follows the lives of two women in their first years of marriage and motherhood. One is a fictional character trying to live the happily-ever-after many imagine for themselves, and the second woman is inspired by the author herself, relating the most intimate moments of her life. Both couples start their marriages full of idyllic happiness, but as the stressors of everyday life seep into their daily lives, that spark of young love begins to dim. Lihi Lapid tells a braided story of women struggling to live up to modern pressures: about shattered dreams, and about finding the strength to gather up the pieces and to learn to smile again.
Zibby Publishing | 9798992427646

AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE by Phillip Margolin (Legal Thriller)
Charlie Webb is a third-rate lawyer who graduated from a third-rate law school and has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court-appointed cases. In AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE, he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested --- again --- for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar; while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe. When this minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie is faced with the most important and deadliest case of his life.
Minotaur Books | 9781250885845

KOOKY SPOOKY LOVE: A Melody Bittersweet Novel by Josie Silver (Paranormal Mystery/Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Maplemead Castle is crawling with ghosts, and the new owners need them gone. When Melody Bittersweet and the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency arrive on scene, they quickly identify the main troublemaker swinging from the chandeliers. A century ago, stunning trapeze artist Britannia Lovell plunged to her death in the castle's grand ballroom and has continued to haunt it ever since. But did she really just fall, or was there something more to her demise? Forced to work with Leo Dark, her scoundrel ex, and the infuriating, irresistible reporter Fletcher Gunn, Melody’s investigative powers are under the strain of a heart pulled in two directions. Somewhere, hidden in the castle, is a heartbreaking secret. But what will it take to find it? And is there a chance it could set Britannia free, or is she doomed to repeat her last fateful act forever?
Dell | 9780593983027

NEVER SAY NEVER by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Oona Kelly Webster has much to be grateful for. She has a loving family and a job she adores, editing a prestigious line of books. To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, she and her husband, Charles, have planned a visit to France. But then Charles drops a bombshell. He has been living a lie --- hiding an affair for a year --- and he is leaving Oona for a younger male lover. Although devastated, Oona decides to travel to France without Charles. Just as she’s catching her breath, she’s dealt another blow: Her company’s merger will eliminate her job. The only silver lining is that she can remain in France, where the simple life in beautiful surroundings slowly begins to heal her, as does the little white dog she rescues and her friendly neighbor hailing from Trinidad, who delights her with his openness and warmth.
Dell | 9780593498668

ROBERT B. PARKER’S HOT PROPERTY: A Spenser Novel by Mike Lupica (Mystery)
Spenser is waiting out the latest Boston snowstorm when he gets word that Rita Fiore has been shot. Rita always has been a tricky one. Flirting with Spenser for years, she’s an ever-present figure that transcends friendship in Spenser’s circle. But at the end of the day, Rita is family. And family will always be protected. Both a pit bull in the courtroom and provocateur outside it, Rita is no stranger to controversy. But as one of the city’s toughest lawyers, Spenser knows that there’s no short list of suspects who might want to enact revenge. With Rita’s life hanging in the balance, it’s up to him to get to the bottom of things, even if it means unearthing some unsavory secrets that just might lead him into an age-old game of lies and deceit.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593716151

SEE HOW THEY HIDE: A Quinn & Costa Thriller by Allison Brennan (Mystery/Thriller)
Two people were murdered --- at the exact same time, in the same gruesome manner, but on opposite sides of the country. With Detective Kara Quinn investigating in Oregon and Special Agent Matt Costa in Virginia, the Mobile Response Team digs deep to uncover more about each victim. What is the link between the two, and why were they targeted? Yet their search unearths more questions than answers --- until they meet Riley Pierce, the only person still alive who might be able to help them find the killers. Soon, their investigation leads them to the hallowed grounds of Havenwood, an eerily beautiful place rooted in a terrifying past. As more bodies turn up, all tied to the same community, Kara and Matt are desperate to piece the puzzle together before Havenwood’s leader sacrifices everything to keep her secrets buried.
Mira | 9780778387282

SHATTERING DAWN by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
Amelia Rivers, a member of the “Lost Night Files” podcast team, hires private investigator Gideon Sweetwater to catch the stalker who has been watching her. Amelia suspects the stalker may be connected to the shadowy organization responsible for the night that she and her two friends lost to amnesia --- a night that upended their lives and left them with paranormal talents. Gideon suspects that Amelia is either paranoid or an outright con artist, but he can’t resist the chemistry between them. Amelia is wary of the powerful attraction between them and deeply uneasy about the nightmarish paintings on the walls of his home. Gideon is forced to reckon with the truth when he disrupts what was intended to be Amelia’s kidnapping. Now the pair is on the run, with no choice but to return to the haunting ruins of the old hotel where Amelia’s lost night occurred.
Berkley | 9780593639924

TOM CLANCY DEFENSE PROTOCOL: A Jack Ryan Novel by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Thriller/Adventure)
For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. New Chinese President Li Jian Jun has devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu knows how to stop Li’s mad and bloody plan for reunification. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West. To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she’s under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders’ plan for her father to exploit. President Jack Ryan needs Li’s secret plans from Qin so he can stave off a war.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593717998

A WOMAN UNDERGROUND: A Cameron Winter Mystery by Andrew Klavan (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Cameron Winter is troubled in heart and mind. He’s plagued by memories of his time as a government operative investigating a notorious Turkish sex trafficker. The fact that the mission was left unfinished still haunts him and threatens to tear him apart. In the midst of his painful soul-searching, Winter crosses paths with an ex-flame --- his first love --- and the chance encounter ignites a passion he thought was long lost. But just as soon as she wanders back into Winter’s life, the woman vanishes, leaving Winter scrambling to track her down. His pursuit takes him deep into a world rent by partisan violence, where extremists clash and Winter sides with no one. As he faces his most dangerous case yet, victory might simply mean getting out alive.
Mysterious Press | 9781613167151

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