December 2, 2025

December 2, 2025

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 1st and December 8th 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 End-of-the-Year Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com, where we are giving readers the opportunity to share their favorite book that they read with their group and their favorite book that they read outside their group this year.

One Grand Prize winner will receive SIX outstanding titles releasing next year that are perfect for book groups to discuss: DAUGHTER OF EGYPT by Marie Benedict, KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN by Sadeqa Johnson, KIN by Tayari Jones, SKYLARK by Paula McLain, STRANGERS: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden, and WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS GROW by Terah Shelton Harris. Be sure to enter by Wednesday, January 14th at noon ET.

Our "Best of 2025" Reviewer Event
is Just EIGHT Days Away!

This Week's Bonus News:
Special Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Share Your Favorite Books of 2025 --- and Enter to Win
SIX Outstanding Book Group Titles Releasing in 2026!

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, December 3rd at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with John Irving about QUEEN ESTHER. After 40 years, Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES.

Monday, December 8th at 6pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid for a live virtual discussion to celebrate the release of AN ARCHIVE OF ROMANCE, a companion novella to her #1 New York Times bestselling novel, A STUDY IN DROWNING. Ava will be in conversation with bestselling author Rachel Gillig.

On Sale the Week of December 1st in Hardcover

December 1st

THE LAST DAYS OF MARILYN MONROE: A True Crime Thriller by James Patterson and Imogen Edwards-Jones (Historical Thriller)
In life, Marilyn Monroe’s superstardom defies classification. In death, she remains shrouded in mystery. In the months before her death, Marilyn polishes the script for her ultimately unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give. In the weeks before her death, she drinks champagne on Santa Monica Beach with the last photographer to take her picture. In the days before her death, she’s a guest of Frank Sinatra in the Celebrity Room at the Cal Neva Lodge. In the hours before her death, she argues with US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and his brother-in-law, Peter Lawford. In an emergency session with her psychiatrist, she confesses: “Here I am, the most beautiful woman in the world, and I do not have a date for Saturday night.” On June 1, 2026, the world celebrates Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday. Without her.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316580519 

December 2nd

ALL MY BONES: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P.J. Nelson (Mystery)
Madeline Brimley recently inherited a bookstore in Enigma, Georgia. Settling in, she recruits her friend Gloria Coleman, the local Episcopal priest, to help her plant azaleas in the front yard of the old Victorian that houses the bookstore. Turning the soil, however, uncovers the body of one Beatrice Glassie, a troublesome woman who has been missing for the past six months. When Gloria is arrested for the murder, Madeline is determined to prove her innocence. As she quickly finds out, there aren't many people in town who hadn't wanted to kill Bea Glassie at one point or another. And the very expensive and rare first edition of a particular volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales --- ordered by the victim and her sister --- is somehow tied to the grim death.
Minotaur Books | 9781250909978 

THE AWARD by Matthew Pearl (Psychological Thriller)
David Trent is an aspiring novelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, trying to navigate his ambitions in a place that has writers around every corner. He lives in an apartment above a Very Famous Author named Silas Hale. Beneath his celebrated image, Silas is a bombastic, vindictive monster who refuses to allow his new neighbor even to make eye contact with him. Until young David wins a prestigious award for his new book. Suddenly Silas is interested --- if intensely spiteful. But soon, the administrator of the award comes to David with alarming news, forcing the writer into a desperate set of choices. Fate intervenes --- with shocking consequences.
Harper | 9780063445277

THE BOOK OF LUKE by Lovell Holder (Fiction)
Following the car accident that ended his football career and left his body scarred, 22-year-old Luke Griffin joins the cast of “Endeavor,” a new competition-based reality show that pits the tabloids’ darlings against one another in tasks of endurance and problem solving. But Luke has aspirations far bigger than the show's million-dollar prize, and soon a series of betrayals leads to irreversible tragedy. Ten years later, Luke is a father of two and the stay-at-home husband to America’s only openly gay senator. When his husband's serial cheating is exposed, Luke impulsively joins the cast of the latest season of “Endeavor” in a desperate bid to earn some fast cash. Back on set, he is confronted with everything he tried to leave in the past: bitter rivalries, shattered friendships and crushing guilt, all of which threaten to tear down the walls he’s spent a decade building.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538770153 

CANTICLE by Janet Rich Edwards (Historical Fiction)
Aleys is 16 years old and prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, Finn, have been learning Latin together in secret. But just as she thinks their connection might become something more, everything unravels. When her father promises her in marriage to a merchant she doesn’t love, she runs away from home, finding shelter among the beguines, a fiercely independent community of religious women who refuse to answer to the Church. Among these hardworking and strong-willed women, Aleys glimpses for the first time the joys of belonging. But forces both mystical and political are at work. Illegal translations of scripture, the women’s independence, and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an ambitious bishop --- and bring Aleys and those around her into ever-increasing danger.
Spiegel & Grau | 9781966302056 

CLOSING TIME: A Michael Gannon Thriller by Michael Ledwidge (Thriller)
It's springtime in Key West, and Michael Gannon is busy supporting his son’s dreams of making it in minor league baseball. But a late-night encounter with a seemingly harmless Australian at a dive bar turns deadly when Gannon unwittingly becomes the prime suspect in a convenience store shoot-out. Seeking the mysterious Australian to clear his name, Gannon uncovers a deadly conspiracy involving a global banker on the run from a shadow paramilitary force that will go to any lengths to stop him. From the Florida Keys to Wall Street, Gannon’s quest for answers takes him deep into the middle of a deadly game of power where one wrong move could be his last.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335090522 

DEAD RINGER by Chris Hauty (Political Thriller)
Set in present-day, a disgraced former Secret Service officer and a Jesuit professor join forces to delve into the mysteries surrounding the events of November 22, 1963. Fixated on deciphering the conspiracies behind the history-changing assassination, they are oblivious to the fact that the cabal is still active --- and may face an end as bloody as the carnage in Dealey Plaza. Will they be able to uncover the truth in time? Or will they become two more footnotes in history?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668084090

EVERY DAY I READ: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books written by Hwang Bo-reum, translated by Shanna Tan (Memoir/Essays)
Why do we read? What is it that we hope to take away from the intimate, personal experience of reading for pleasure? How often do we ask these profound, expansive questions of ourselves and of our relationship to the joy of reading? In each of the essays in EVERY DAY I READ, Hwang Bo-reum contemplates what living a life immersed in reading means. She goes beyond the usual questions of what to read and how often, exploring the relationship between reading and writing, when to turn to a bestseller vs. browse the corners of a bookstore, the value of reading outside of your favorite genre, falling in love with book characters, and more.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639737796 

EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD by Ace Atkins (Historical Thriller/Humor) 
It’s 1985, and 14-year-old Peter Bennett is convinced that his mom’s new boyfriend is a Russian agent. He thinks Gary only wants to get close to his mom because she works at Scientific Atlanta, a lab with big government contracts. After another woman who works at the lab is killed, Peter recruits a has-been pulp writer and muckraker, along with his drag performer buddy, Jackie Demure. Both soon become the target of an unhinged Russian hitman. Meanwhile, Sylvia Weaver, a young, Black FBI agent, investigates Scientific Atlanta in the wake of the employee’s murder and discovers a nest of Russian spies in the city. Little does she know that her investigation is being thwarted by a seriously compromised colleague in Washington, D.C., who is in league with a lovesick, hypochondriac KGB defector who is playing both sides of the Cold War to his benefit.
William Morrow | 9780063293441 

THE HEIR APPARENT by Rebecca Armitage (Fiction)
It’s New Year’s Day in Australia, and the life Lexi Villiers has carefully built is working out nicely. She’s in the second year of her medical residency, she lives on a beautiful farm with her two best friends, Finn and Jack, and she’s about to finally become more than friendly with Jack --- when a helicopter abruptly lands. Out steps her grandmother’s right-hand man, with the tragic news that her father and older brother have been killed in a skiing accident. Lexi’s grandmother happens to be the Queen of England, and Lexi must now accept the reality that she is suddenly next in line for the throne --- a role she has publicly disavowed. Returning to London as the heir apparent Princess Alexandrina, Lexi is greeted by a skeptical public not ready to forgive her defection, a grieving sister-in-law harboring an explosive secret, and a scheming uncle determined to claim the throne himself.
Cardinal | 9781538776308 

HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT written by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Magical Realism/Short Stories)
A woman settles in a remote Polish village where she knows no one. It has few inhabitants, but it teems with the stories of the living and the dead. There’s the drunk Marek Marek, who discovers that he shares his body with a bird, and Franz Frost, whose nightmares come to him from a newly discovered planet. There’s the man whose death --- with one leg on the Polish side, one on the Czech --- was an international incident. And there are the Germans who still haunt a region that not long ago they called their own. From the founding of the town to the lives of its saints, these shards piece together not only a history, but a cosmology.
Riverhead Books | 9780593716380 

HUGUETTE: A Novel of Liberation by Cara Black (Historical Thriller)
After Libération, spring 1945: Seventeen-year-old Huguette Faure is a survivor. The war has taken everything from her --- both her parents and her sense of safety. Now, pregnant and on the lam, she cannot return to her childhood home in Paris. Forced to reinvent herself, she must outrun her father’s enemies, who want her dead. After narrowly avoiding jail time --- thanks to the help of a kindhearted police officer named Claude Leduc --- Huguette lands a job assisting a legendary film director. As her role develops from helping him with chores to cooking his books, she sees an opportunity to break free from the ghosts of her past once and for all.
Soho Crime | 9781641294492 

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD written by Christoffer Carlsson, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Mystery)
On a snowy winter night in 1999, Sander and Killian leave a house party together outside a small town in rural Sweden. The very best of friends, the two 17-year-olds imagine they will remain so forever. But by the next morning, a corpse is found in the trunk of a car, and each boy is a suspect in the murder. Each has something they want to conceal from the police. And from the other. The hunt for the killer will take more than 20 years. It will see the lead detective leave the force forever. And it won’t end until a second body turns up under similar circumstances, and the tight-knit community’s secrets are finally brought to light.
Hogarth | 9780593733059 

A LONG GAME: Notes on Writing Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken
(Language Arts/Self-Help) 
Writing can feel like an endless series of decisions. How does one face the blank page? Move a character around a room? Deal with time? Undertake revision? The good and bad news is that in fiction writing, there are no definitive answers to such questions: writers must come up with their own. Elizabeth McCracken has been teaching for more than 35 years, guiding her many students through their own answers. In A LONG GAME, she shares insights gleaned along the way, offering practical tips and incisive thoughts about her own work as an artist. Writing “is a long game,” she notes. “What matters is that you learn to get work done in the way that is possible for you, through consistency or panic. Through self-recrimination or self-delusion or self-forgiveness: every life needs all three.”
Ecco | 9780063375291 

MURDER, SHE WROTE: THE BODY IN THE TREES by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
A quartet of friends from Florida have come to Maine to experience a New England autumn, complete with hiking in the woods and fishing. When one of them goes missing, the town rallies to find the presumably lost but otherwise safe tourist. But when newspaper editor Dan Andrews is biking on the trail along a ridge, he looks down and sees a leg caught in the branches of a tree. Count on Jessica Fletcher to uncover the secret reason the victim came to town…and how it led to her murder.
Berkley | 9780593820216 

NEEDLE LAKE by Justine Champine (Fiction)
Fourteen-year-old Ida was born with a hole in her heart. Forbidden from most physical activities, she prefers spending time alone. One afternoon, in walks her cousin Elna, there to stay for a few weeks. Ida hasn’t seen Elna since they were children, and she’s immediately drawn to her older cousin, who’s everything Ida is not: confident, glamorous, charismatic and daring. Elna doesn’t treat Ida like she’s a fragile kid whose heart might give out at any moment. Ida is enraptured. Then, on Christmas Eve, a man dies out in the woods near Mineral, and the two cousins suddenly share a secret beyond the scope of anything Ida has dealt with before. Fear begins to mix with the reverence Ida feels toward her cousin, especially when she discovers that Elna is hiding more than she ever suspected.
The Dial Press | 9780593447239 

QUEENS AT WAR: England's Medieval Queens, Book Four by Alison Weir (Biography) 
The 15th century was a violent age. In QUEENS AT WAR, Alison Weir chronicles the five queens who got caught up in wars that changed the courses of their lives: the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York. Against this tempestuous backdrop, Weir describes the lives of five Plantagenet queens, who occupied the consort’s throne from 1403 to 1485: Joan of Navarre, Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Widville and Anne Neville. The Medieval Queens books strip away centuries of historical mythologizing to shed light on the genuine accomplishments and bravery of these fascinating female monarchs. QUEENS AT WAR brings the series to an action-packed close.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966754 

SHARPE'S STORM: Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of Southern France, 1813 by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
The year is 1813. France is a battlefield, and winter shows no mercy. Amid brutal conditions, Major Richard Sharpe finds himself saddled with an unexpected burden: Rear-Admiral Sir Joel Chase, dispatched by the Admiralty with sealed orders, unshakable confidence, and a frankly terrifying enthusiasm for combat. Sharpe’s mission from Wellington is clear, yet anything but simple: Keep Sir Joel alive. Sir Joel could hold the key to defeating Napoleon once and for all. But to pull off his audacious plan, he needs someone who knows how to fight dirty, think fast and survive the impossible. He needs Sharpe.
Harper | 9780063219434

SILENT BONES: A Karen Pirie Novel by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain causes a landslide on a motorway, it dislodges more than mud and asphalt --- it reveals a skeleton, concealed when the road was built 11 years prior. Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who’d been poking his nose into the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum, had become the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his girlfriend when he vanished. Now he’s reappeared, buried under the motorway. It’s the perfect cold case for DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit. What was Nimmo investigating that was worth killing over? Or was it revenge for murdering his girlfriend? Meanwhile, an allegation of murder has surfaced over the supposedly accidental death of a hotel manager. It may have links to another accident on a remote Highland road.
Atlantic Crime | 9780802164391 

THE SNOW LIES DEEP: A Mercy Carr Mystery by Paula Munier (Mystery)
Mercy and Troy are looking forward to baby Felicity’s first holiday season. At Northshire’s annual Solstice Soirée, hosted by Northshire’s finest and funded by Mercy’s billionaire pal Feinberg, Amy’s little girl Helena is sitting on Santa Claus’ lap. She’s telling him she’d like a Bitty Baby doll just like little Felicity when the bearded man leaps up, thrusts the toddler at her mother Amy, and staggers away from the festivities. He disappears into the woods. By the time Elvis and Mercy find him, Santa Claus --- aka the town mayor --- is lying on his back, dead. This strange murder is the first of a series of similar Solstice-themed killings targeting the town’s most prominent citizens. Mercy and Troy and the dogs must team up with Thrasher and Harrington to capture The Yuletide Killer before he strikes again, this time far closer to home.
Minotaur Books | 9781250389985 

SOMEWHERE, A BOY AND A BEAR: A. A. Milne and the Creation of "Winnie-the-Pooh" by Gyles Brandreth (Biography)
SOMEWHERE, A BOY AND A BEAR tells the remarkable story of A. A. Milne, a playwright, a bestselling crime writer, a poet, a polemicist, a humorist, and the man who created Winnie-the-Pooh. Gyles Brandreth explores Winnie-the-Pooh, a bear beloved by millions: his genesis, his life across a hundred years, his special philosophy, and the reasons for his worldwide popularity. Brandreth’s book is also the intimate biography of three generations of the fascinating and troubled Milne family, which knew fame and fortune, despising both for a time, but a family that ultimately found a profound reason to be grateful for the riches Pooh brought them.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250429902 

STUART WOODS' BLOWN AWAY: A Teddy Fay Novel Featuring Stone Barrington by Brett Battles (Thriller/Adventure) 
Teddy Fay whisks away to join Peter and Hattie Barrington in Palm Springs. But his hope for a relaxing vacation vanishes when he attends a prominent actor’s annual birthday party, where he witnesses a heated squabble between two women, only for one of them to turn up dead the next day. Teddy investigates who might be lurking in the shadows and uncovers a web of intrigue involving a sinister plan to take over a cutting-edge energy company. If he doesn’t act fast, valuable secrets risk falling into the wrong hands, but more importantly innocent lives could be in jeopardy.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593854747 

WATCH US FALL by Christina Kovac (Psychological Thriller)
Lucy and her three best friends share a glamorous but decaying house in the heart of Georgetown. They call themselves “the Sweeties” and live an idyllic post-grad lifestyle complete with exciting jobs, dramatic love lives, and, most importantly, each other. But when Addie, the group’s queen bee, discovers that her ex-boyfriend Josh has gone missing, the Sweeties’ worlds are turned upside down. In the days leading up to his disappearance, Josh, a star investigative journalist from a prominent political family, was behaving erratically --- and Lucy is determined to find out why. All four friends upend their lives to search for him, but detectives begin to suspect that the Sweeties might know more than they’re letting on.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501141720

WHEN THE FIREFLIES DANCE by Aisha Hassan (Fiction)
On the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, a large yellow moon hung low in the sky when the men came with dogs and guns and cricket bats. In front of his family’s small hut on the edge of a looming brick kiln, Lalloo’s brother was murdered. Unable to escape the memory of that horrible night, Lalloo’s parents and sisters remain trapped, the kiln chimney churning black smoke into the sky as the family slave, brick by brick, to pay off their debts. To rescue them, Lalloo must free himself from his past and carve out his own destiny.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668043288

WHITE WOLF: An Evan Ryder Novel by Eric Van Lustbader (Thriller/Adventure) 
In this cutting-edge fifth installment of the acclaimed Evan Ryder series, Eric Van Lustbader thrusts readers into a world where power is being redefined by a revolutionary communication program that renders modern encryption obsolete, one that will topple global power structures and give rise to technology-driven totalitarian states. Evan Ryder races against time in a landscape where secrets can no longer hide behind digital walls. Ilona Shokova, the elusive, deadly assassin White Wolf, holds the key to mastering this unhackable method. Two powerful, deadly women. One quest. Will either one of them survive?
Forge Books | 9781250349279 

On Sale the Week of December 1st in Paperback

December 1st

ONLY WAY OUT by Tod Goldberg (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Failed lawyer Robert Green has such a good plan: Crack 300 safe-deposit boxes and sail off to South America with his brilliant, morally flexible sister, Penny. If it weren’t for the damned freezing rain. In the dying resort town of Granite Shores, cop Jack Biddle is self-appointed king --- mostly of bad decisions --- and he is looking for a way out. Then he spots a van spinning off a mountain road into the valley below. In the wreckage, Jack finds a very dead Robert, millions in heisted loot…and opportunity. All Jack has to do is clean up the mess, make Robert’s body disappear, make off with the fortune, and not get caught. One hitch is Penny. Another is Mitch Diamond, a wild card ex-con who knows more about the missing fortune than he lets on. Jack, Penny and Mitch each have an endgame. But there’s only one way out, and they’re crashing headlong toward it.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662525629

THE SECOND SON by Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Soldier-turned-sommelier Chase Burke may have traded his rifle for bottles of wine, but violence and conspiracy aren’t through with him yet. First, his intelligence analyst brother is killed in a covert op gone wrong and branded a traitor. Then a brutal ambush at the restaurant where Chase works leaves the woman he is romantically involved with --- a congresswoman --- clinging to life. Scrambling to clear the family name and protect his secret love, Chase teams up with NYPD Detective Alice Doyle, a single mother fighting battles of her own. Together they uncover a powerful criminal syndicate whose unscrupulous influence sweeps the globe --- and strikes painfully close to home. As elite mercenaries close in, Chase is dragged back into the dangerous world he thought he’d escaped.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662529290

December 2nd

AGAINST THE GRAIN: A Peter Diamond Investigation by Peter Lovesey (Mystery)
Detective Peter Diamond is taking a short holiday. His former colleague, Julie Hargreaves, has invited Diamond and his partner, Paloma, to visit the idyllic village of Baskerville. The woman who owns the village’s largest dairy farm has been convicted of manslaughter following a terrible accident in her grain silo. Julie’s ex-investigator instinct tells her there has been a miscarriage of justice and a murderer is on the loose. But Julie has been keeping secrets of her own and can’t take her inquiry any further. Diamond takes the bait. The case is a fascinating one, but maintaining his innocent tourist facade becomes harder as he closes in on his suspects. AGAINST THE GRAIN is the conclusion to the Peter Diamond series --- and Peter Lovesey’s final book.
Soho Crime | 9781641297400

APRIL STORM by Leila Meacham (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Kathryn Walker enjoys an enviable life. Her husband is an accomplished doctor, her children are bright and successful, and she devotes herself to charity work that uplifts her suburban Colorado community. Settling into a new year, her life couldn’t be better. Until April. For Kathryn, April has always rained trouble --- but this time may be even stormier than the fraught past she’s trying to overcome. Already distraught over the child she miscarried in this same cursed month many years ago, the emotionally fragile woman isn’t ready to consider the overwhelming evidence that someone may be trying to take her husband --- and her life.
Harper Perennial | 9780063323117

BOOKED FOR MURDER: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P.J. Nelson (Mystery)
Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, she's left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. When she arrives to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the backyard is set ablaze, and a late-night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn't leave immediately. But Madeline ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there's another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it's up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.
Minotaur Books | 9781250393487

THE CLOSE-UP by Pip Drysdale (Psychological Thriller)
When Zoe Ann Weiss moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, her whole future is wide open. But then Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she’s falling for, ghosts her. Her debut novel, a thriller, fails. And she has writer’s block worse than ever before. Now, three years later, Zoe is facing her 30th birthday, a dead-end job at a flower shop, and a demanding agent. But when she goes to make a flower delivery and Zach is at the address, it’s like no time has passed at all. They start casually dating in secret, and her writer’s block disappears. But then the inevitable happens and photos are leaked, landing Zoe in the press. Her first novel goes viral, and now everyone seems to know her name. Except the problem with everyone knowing your name is that everyone knows your name --- including the mysterious stalker obsessed with Zach.
Gallery Books | 9781668037935

DARKMOTHERLAND by Samrat Upadhyay (Dystopian Fiction)
In DARKMOTHERLAND, Nepali writer Samrat Upadhyay has created a novel of infinite embrace --- filled with lovers and widows, dictators and dissidents, paupers, fundamentalists, and a genderqueer power player with her eyes on the throne --- in an earthquake-ravaged dystopian reimagining of Nepal. At its heart are two intertwining narratives: one of Kranti, a revolutionary’s daughter who marries into a plutocratic dynasty and becomes ensnared in the family’s politics. And then there is the tale of Darkmotherland’s new dictator and his mistress, Rozy, who undergoes radical body changes and grows into a figure of immense power.
Soho Press | 9781641297424

FRIENDS AND LIARS by Kit Frick (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
It’s been five years since heiress Clare Monroe tragically died on New Year’s Eve at her family’s opulent Italian palazzo. Since that time, her college friends have harbored a dark secret --- their lies and betrayals led to Clare’s untimely death. Now, they are each the recipient of an invitation from the Monroes to return to the lakeside palazzo for a long-overdue memorial for Clare. Luca, Harper, Sirina and David have barely settled into their idyllic accommodations on Lake Como before someone at the memorial party begins targeting them. Haunted by little “gifts” left in their rooms, taunting notes, and the unshakable sense of being watched, it soon becomes clear that someone on the guest list knows the whole truth about the night Clare died --- and the secrets her friends have been keeping.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668022535

THE GALLAGHER PLACE by Julie Doar (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
When Marlowe Fisher, an illustrator living in New York City, returns to her family’s bewitching Hudson Valley home for the holidays, she discovers a body in the woods --- a murder that draws her back into the haunting case of her teenage best friend’s disappearance two decades earlier. What happened to Nora? As police descend on the sprawling Fisher property, Marlowe is pulled into an investigation that threatens to unravel the town’s fragile loyalties and expose the shadowed legacy of a weekend home steeped in secrets. Marlowe must confront the fallibility of her own memory and the feeling that everyone --- including her brothers --- is hiding something if she’s to uncover the shocking truth about her lost friend. 
Zibby Publishing | 9798992377002

HOMESEEKING by Karissa Chen (Romance)
Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in 60 years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back. Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me. HOMESEEKING follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593713013

HOPE AND DESTINY written by Niklas Natt och Dag, translated by Alex Fleming (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
1434: The unified kingdoms of northern Europe are cracking at their seams as a peasant rebellion, led by the charismatic figure Engelbrekt Engelbrekts, erupts in the north. Sent by his family to find a foothold in this rising revolutionary movement is young Magnus Bengtsson, who must win Engelbrekt’s trust and favor no matter the cost. Back at Magnus’ family castle, his mother, father and sister wait for news of his success. One is lost in longing, another is forging his own plan for the throne and crown, and one is looking for the opportunity to rise from her brother’s shadow.
Atria Books | 9781668069875

ISOLA by Allegra Goodman (Historical Fiction)
Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian --- an enigmatic and volatile man --- spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. That journey takes an unexpected turn when Marguerite, accused of betrayal, is brutally punished and abandoned on a small island. Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593730102

THE LAST KILO: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America by T.J. English (True Crime)
Despite what Scarface might lead one to believe, violence was not the dominant characteristic of the cocaine business. It was corruption: the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges and politicians who made the drug world go round. And no one managed that carousel of dangerous players better than Willy Falcon. Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon, thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the US from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year. T.J. English has been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of Los Muchachos, sitting down with Willy Falcon and his associates for many lengthy interviews, and revealing never-before-understood details about drug trafficking.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063265547

LOCKED IN: A Department Q Novel written by Jussi Adler-Olsen, translated by Caroline Waight (Mystery/Thriller)
When the head of Department Q, Detective Carl Mørck, finds himself handcuffed in a police car headed for Copenhagen's Vestre prison, he realizes that a violent case from his past has finally caught up with him. But he is being framed. Someone has a million-dollar bounty on his head to make sure he doesn't talk, putting him in grave danger among the prison's incarcerated criminals and corrupt officers. Carl's colleagues at the Copenhagen Police Department instantly turn their backs on him, leaving the ever-loyal Department Q team as his only hope. With only one another to trust and Carl's battle against the unknown mastermind's henchmen worsening by the day, they must work faster than ever before if they are to clear his name --- and save his life.
Dutton | 9780593475713

THE MATING GAME by Lana Ferguson (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Contractor Tess Covington has spent her entire life as a regular non-shifter human. So after she lands in the Denver ER with flu-like symptoms, it comes as a complete shock to be told that she’s actually a late-presenting omega wolf shifter. With her family in dire financial straits and a contract for her own television show on the line, she can’t afford not to complete the renovation job she came for. Alpha wolf Hunter Barrett has spent most of his adult life living by a routine, and a big part of that involves staying clear of omegas after having one stomp on his heart. So when the tiny contractor shows up at his place smelling like the one thing he’s determined to avoid, he thinks it must be some sort of cosmic joke. Set on avoiding each other as much as possible, they find things unexpectedly starting to heat up between them enough to thaw even the frostiest of hearts. 
Berkley | 9780593953693

NO ONE ABOARD by Emy McGuire (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
At the start of summer, billionaire couple Francis and Lila Cameron set off on their private luxury sailboat to celebrate the high school graduation of their two beloved children. Three weeks later, the Camerons have not been heard from, the captain hasn’t responded to radio calls, and the sailboat is found floating off the coast of Florida. Empty. Where are the Camerons? What happened on their trip? And what secrets does the beautiful boat hold? Set over the course of their vacation and in the aftermath of the sailboat’s discovery, NO ONE ABOARD asks: Who is more dangerous to a family --- a stormy ocean or each other?
Graydon House | 9781525831621

THE NOTE by Alafair Burke (Psychological Thriller)
Growing up, May Hanover was always a good girl. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. Their bond --- forged when May was just 12 years old --- has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder if Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.
Vintage | 9780593684863

THE OTHER PEOPLE by C. B. Everett (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house, and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who --- or what --- lurks in the cellar?
Atria Books | 9781668058312

OUR WINTER MONSTER by Dennis Mahoney (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
For the last year, Holly and Brian have been out of sync. Neither can forget what happened that one winter evening; neither can forgive what’s happened since. Tonight, Holly and Brian race toward Pinebuck, New York, trying to outrun a blizzard on their way to the ski village getaway they hope will save their relationship. But soon they lose control of the car --- and then of themselves. Now Sheriff Kendra Book is getting calls about a couple in trouble --- along with reports of a brutal and mysterious creature rampaging through town, leaving a trail of crushed cars, wrecked buildings and mangled bodies in the snow. To Kendra, who lost another couple to the snow just seven weeks ago, the danger feels personal. But not as personal as it feels to Holly and Brian, who are starting to see the past, the present and themselves in a monstrous new light.
Hell’s Hundred | 9781641297455

PRIVATE RITES by Julia Armfield (Fiction)
Sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father, an architect as cruel as he was revered, dies. His death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will. The sisters are more estranged than ever, and their lives spin out of control. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.
Flatiron Books | 9781250344335

SECRETS OF THE FIRST SCHOOL by T. L. Huchu (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Ropa Moyo is dead, banished to the Other Place by the reanimated spirit of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville of Scotland. It turns out that being on the losing side sucks worse than being skint. Now, the Cult of Dundas intends to ascend to godhood, spreading their corrupting reach from Edinburgh to all of Scotland’s schools of magic. Ropa must find some way to escape the Other Place, save her sister and gather allies across the country before Edinburgh falls. A royal plot, a family secret and a stolen body. As Scotland descends into petty in-fighting, Ropa’s only hope lies in her grandmother’s final secret: the first school of magic. An ancient power is returning…and is hungry for revenge.
Tor Books | 9781250440914

THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS by Naomi Wood (Fiction/Short Stories)
A woman has an unexpected outburst at a corporate therapy session for working mothers. A couple find some long-overdue time to rekindle their relationship and make an ill-advised home movie. A pregnant film director plots revenge on the actress who betrayed her. An ex-wife deliberately causes conflict at her ex-husband’s wedding. THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS illuminates the lives of malicious, subversive and untamed women. Exploring failed sisterhood, dubious parenting and the dark side of modern love, this powerful and funny collection exposes how society wants women to behave and shows what happens when they refuse.
Mariner Books | 9780063399730

TO SAVE THE MAN by John Sayles (Historical Fiction)
In September 1890, the academic year begins at the Carlisle School, a military-style boarding school for Indians in Pennsylvania, founded and run by Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt considers himself a champion of Native Americans. His motto, “To save the man, we must kill the Indian,” is severely enforced in both classroom and dormitory. As the young students navigate surviving the school, they begin to hear rumors of a “ghost dance” amongst the tribes of the west --- a ceremonial dance aimed at restoring the Native People to power and running the invaders off their land. As the hope and promise of the ghost dance sweeps across the Great Plains, cynical newspapers seize upon the story to whip up panic among local whites. The US government responds by deploying troops onto lands that had been granted to the Indians. It is an act that seems certain to end in slaughter.
Melville House | 9781685892234

WHAT IT’S LIKE IN WORDS by Eliza Moss (Fiction)
Enola is approaching 30 and feels adrift in a way she thought she would have beaten by now. She wants to be a writer but can't finish a first draft; she romanticizes her childhood but won’t speak to her mother; she has never been in a serious relationship but yearns to be one-half of a couple that DIYs together during the weekends. Enter: enigmatic writer. Enola falls in love and starts to dream about their perfect future, but the reality is far from perfect. He is distant, hangs out with his ex and has dark moods. Her best friend begs her to end it, but she can’t. Enola might feel like she’s going crazy at times, but she wants him. She needs him. She would die without him. Over the next 24 hours (and two years), everything that Enola thinks she knows is about to unravel.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250355072

THE WOMAN IN ME by Britney Spears (Memoir)
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice --- her truth --- was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. THE WOMAN IN ME reveals for the first time her incredible journey --- and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’ groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love --- and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
Gallery Books | 9781668009055

WOO WOO by Ella Baxter (Fiction)
WOO WOO follows Sabine, a conceptual artist on the verge of a photo exhibition she hopes will be pivotal, as she plunges deeper into her neuroses and seeks validation in relationships --- with her frustratingly rational chef husband, her horde of devoted Gen Z TikTok followers, and even a mysterious, potentially violent stalker. Accompanying her throughout are Sabine’s strange alter egos, from hyperrealistic puppets of her as a baby to the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann, who shows up with inscrutable yet sage life advice.
Catapult | 9781646223046

On Sale the Week of December 8th in Hardcover

December 9th

THE BIRDWATCHER by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Mystery) 
When she is convicted of a double murder, Felicity Wild, a brilliant grad student turned high-priced escort, declares, “I may not be innocent, but I’m innocent of this.” Reenie Bigelow never doubted it. A jury may have given Felicity a life sentence, but Reenie knows that her childhood best friend is not capable of murder. And so Reenie, a journalist, decides to use her deep connections to Felicity’s past to unravel the truth. The more she uncovers, the more Reenie is convinced that the story the prosecution told is wrong, despite the puzzling fact that Felicity said not one single word in her own defense. But there's one thing Reenie knows for certain: Felicity would never lie.
Mira | 9780778368670 

DARK SISTERS by Kristi DeMeester (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
In DARK SISTERS, horror meets historical fiction when a curse bridges generations, binding the fates of three women. Anne Bolton, a healer facing persecution for witchcraft, bargains with a dark entity for protection --- but the fire she unleashes will reverberate for centuries. Mary Shephard, a picture-perfect wife in a suffocating community, falls for Sharon and begins a forbidden affair that could destroy them both. And Camilla Burson, the rebellious daughter of a preacher, defies conformist expectations to uncover an ancient power as her father’s flock spirals into crisis.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250286819 

THE QUIET MOTHER: A Detective Konrad Novel by Arnaldur Indridason (Mystery) 
A woman is found murdered in her Reykjavík home, her apartment ransacked. On her desk lies a note with retired detective Konrad’s phone number. Days earlier, she had begged him to find the child she gave up nearly 50 years ago. But Konrad, reluctant to reopen old wounds, turned her away. Now, haunted by guilt, he vows to uncover the truth --- for her and for himself. As Konrad digs into her tragic past, he is drawn into a web of secrets, lies and betrayal. Each revelation points to a hidden life that connects her death to a decades-old murder --- and to shadows from Konrad’s own family history.
Minotaur Books | 9781250403766 

THE SEA CAPTAIN'S WIFE: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo (History) 
Summer, 1856. Nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Patten and her husband, Joshua, already had completed their first clipper-ship voyage around the world with Joshua as captain. If they could win the race to San Francisco that year, their dream of building a farm and a family might be within reach. As their ship, Neptune’s Car, left New York Harbor and sailed down the jagged coast of South America, Joshua fell deathly ill and was confined to his bunk. The treacherous first mate, confined to the brig for insubordination, was agitating for mutiny. With no obvious option for a new captain, Mary Ann stepped into the breach and convinced the crew to support her, just as they slammed into a gale that would last 18 days. Determined to save the ship, the crew and their future, she faces down the deadly waters of Drake’s Passage.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250352583 

SPASM by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller)
When Laurie Montgomery temporarily steps down from her position as Chief Medical Examiner at the OCME, she and Jack decide to embark on a weekend getaway. And the timing couldn't be better when they receive a call from Jack's old peer, Robert Neilson, MD, about two strange deaths and their potential association with the upswing in Alzheimer's cases in Essex Falls. Laurie and Jack agree to help. Robert tells them that the deaths are of two troublemakers, known to be white extremists, in their late 20s. Prior to their deaths, their behavior had been somewhat bizarre with both complaining of muscle spasms, nausea and off-the-charts anxiety. As Jack and Laurie get to work, they are led to believe that a dangerous bioweapon might be at play, which, in the wrong hands, could threaten the lives of the entire town...and maybe all of America.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9798217044931 

TAILORED REALITIES by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy & Science Fiction/Short Stories)
Spanning the genres of fantasy and science fiction, TAILORED REALITIES includes 10 works of short fiction from the ingenious mind of one of the genre’s most beloved bestselling authors. From futuristic detective thrillers to inventive space opera, superhero action, high-tech fantasy and beyond, these gripping stand-alone reads have never before been gathered into one volume, with many available here in print for the first time. Also including author’s notes and stunning interior illustrations for each story, this visionary collection is a must-read whether you’re new to Brandon Sanderson or a longtime fan.
Tor Books | 9781250410481 

On Sale the Week of December 8th in Paperback

December 9th

THE BOOK SWAP by Tessa Bickers (Romance)
Still reeling from a recent tragedy, Erin Connolly knows she needs to start living, but she has no idea how. When she accidentally donates her favorite book --- a heavily annotated copy of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD containing a memento she can’t be without --- to a local community library, she’s devastated. But then the book turns up a week later, back in the library with fresh notes in the margins, along with an invitation in a copy of GREAT EXPECTATIONS to meet her newfound pen pal. A life-changing conversation, written only in the margins of beloved classic books, begins between Erin and her Mystery Man. Following each other through the pages of their favorite novels as the book exchange continues, they both begin to open up, falling into a friendship…and maybe something more. But Erin and her pen pal have a shared history that neither of them has guessed.
Graydon House | 9781525800115

COLD STORAGE: A Thriller of the Near Future by Michael C. Grumley (Technothriller)
Technology never works well the first time. Or even the second. Army veteran John Reiff is living proof. John is revived in the back of a dilapidated ambulance, on the run from a shadowy organization that is desperate to take him back. He is the first one, their archetype, and they need to know what happened after his escape. What is happening to his body and his mind. And they need to know now. Because Reiff knows things he shouldn’t. About them and about what they are hiding. A secret that has been in cold storage for several hundred years. And the insidious, methodical plan that has been in motion for half a century. John Reiff is their key --- a problem and the solution. A lab rat gone rogue at the worst possible time. But they will find him. They have to. And they will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Forge Books | 9781250898777

EVERYONE IN THE GROUP CHAT DIES by L.M. Chilton (Mystery & Thriller/Humor)
Paperback Original
Kirby Cornell needs a break from everything: Her crumbling apartment in the sleepy town of Crowhurst (famous for its bucolic countryside and a second-rate serial killer from the ’90s). Her dead-end job. Her sleazy landlord. Her messy roommates. And, most of all, the terrible thing they all did. Luckily, that hasn’t caught up with her just yet. Until a new message on their old group chat pops up: Everyone in the group chat dies. It’s the first text that her ex-roommate, Esme, has sent in ages, but that’s not the really weird thing. The really weird thing is that Esme died 12 months ago.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668094174

GALAPHILE: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks (Fantasy)
One of the most iconic structures in the Four Lands is Paranor, the fortress home of the Druid Order. Legend holds that it was erected by an Elven leader known as Galaphile Joss. But who was this Galaphile, and how and why did he choose to establish this center of magic and learning? Within these pages we meet the real Galaphile, following him from a friendless teenage orphan stranded in the Human world to a powerful adult and master mage, studying under the infamous recluse, Cogline. Throughout it all, Galaphile’s goal is a noble one: to bring order to a chaotic world, and to make life better for those trying to survive it. To this end, he commences building the citadel that one day will be known as Paranor with the aid of the King of the Silver River. But there is one other who seeks dominion over the Four Lands --- and for far less virtuous ends.
Del Rey | 9780593129791

INVISIBLE HELIX: A Detective Galileo Novel by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
The body of a young man is found floating in Tokyo Bay. But his death was no accident; Ryota Uetsuji was shot. He'd been reported missing the week before by his live-in girlfriend, Sonoka Shimauchi. But when detectives from the Homicide Squad go to interview her, she is nowhere to be found. When they learn that she was the victim of domestic abuse, they presume she was the killer. But her alibi is airtight; she was hours away in Kyoto when Ryota disappeared, forcing Detectives Kusanagi and Utsumi to restart their investigation. But if Sonoko didn't kill her abusive lover, then who did? A thin thread of association leads them to their old consultant, brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa, known in the department as "Detective Galileo." With Sonoko still missing, the detectives investigate other threads of association.
Minotaur Books | 9781250406033

ONLY STARS KNOW THE MEANING OF SPACE: A Literary Mixtape by Rémy Ngamije (Fiction/Short Stories)
ONLY STARS KNOW THE MEANING OF SPACE is presented as a literary mixtape. The A-Side, read as one narrative, tells the story of a soon-to-be 30-year-old aspiring writer navigating a complicated world. The B-Side, taken as a separate experience, features (seemingly) independent and unrelated short stories. There’s “Crunchy, Green Apples (or, Omo),” a story about loss told by the strangest of narrative devices: a shopping list. “Sofa, So Good, Sort Of (or, John Muafangejo)” is a first-person account of a family’s history and a long journey towards hope. A group of friends attempts to navigate a recent breakup in “From the Lost City of Hurtlantis to the Streets of Helldorado (or, Franco).” When read together, however, a third world emerges --- a complex, intergenerational and interconnected world exploring the universal gaping void of grief.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668012475

THE TIME HOP COFFEE SHOP by Phaedra Patrick (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Greta Perks was once the shining star of the iconic Maple Gold coffee commercials, the quintessential TV wife and mom. Now fame has faded, her marriage is on the rocks, her teenage daughter has become distant, and Greta’s once-glittering career feels like a distant memory. When Greta stumbles upon a mysterious coffee shop serving a magical brew, she wishes for the perfect life in those past Maple Gold commercials. Next thing she knows, Greta wakes in the idyllic make-believe town of Mapleville, where the sun always shines and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and second chances fill the air. Given the opportunity to live the life she dreamed, Greta is determined to rewrite her own script. But can life ever be like a coffee commercial? And what will happen when Greta has to choose between perfection and real life, with no turning back?
Park Row | 9780778310907

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