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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 28th and October 5th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our current Word of Mouth contest. Let us know by Friday, October 9th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win AMERICAN HAGWON by Min Jin Lee and THE VANISHING FAMILY: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia by Robert Kolker, both of which will be Bookreporter.com Bets On selections. Carol Fitzgerald calls both books “stellar.”
Carol's latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview is with Amanda Peters, whose new novel, THE BIRTHING TREE, is an instant national bestseller. Like her debut, THE BERRY PICKERS, it is a Bets On title.
Amanda shares the personal and professional inspirations behind the book. They include a childhood memory involving her grandmother, who had dementia and told her about a tree near the water where Mi'kmaq women used to give birth, as well as Amanda’s work with Nova Scotia's midwifery regulation committee.
The conversation explores the importance of preserving Mi'kmaq traditions, intergenerational storytelling, and Amanda's personal journey reconnecting with her Indigenous heritage.
New York Times bestselling author Dani Shapiro has this to say about the book: “With a rare combination of intellectual rigor and a powerful sense of intimacy, Galit Atlas beckons us into the inner worlds of her patients, as well as into her own world as a psychoanalyst, and illuminates the ways in which our childhood wounds shape our relationships. I dare anyone not to find herself within the pages of this beautiful book. COME CLOSER is a masterwork by one of the great thinkers of our time.”
The 24-hour contest is now up , so be sure to enter for your chance to win one of five copies of the book. The deadline for your entries is TOMORROW, Wednesday, September 30th at noon ET.
For those of you who shop online, if you use the store links that appear on our site for shopping, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop/IndieBound. As you read our reviews and features, we would appreciate your considering this as you buy!
This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest
Win a Copy of AMERICAN HAGWON by Min Jin Lee
and THE VANISHING FAMILY by Robert Kolker
Let us know by Friday, October 9th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win AMERICAN HAGWON by Min Jin Lee and THE VANISHING FAMILY: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia by Robert Kolker in our Word of Mouth contest. Both will be Bookreporter.com Bets On picks.
By turns sweeping and intimate, AMERICAN HAGWON reckons with ambition and moderation, lust and loyalty, personal dreams and familial duty. THE VANISHING FAMILY tells the heart-wrenching journey of a family facing an unthinkable destiny, whose flawed genetic code might hold the long-sought key to a cure for dementia.
» To make sure other readers will be able to find the books you write about, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For rules and guidelines, click here.
» To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
Click here to enter the contest.
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, September 30th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Lucy Foley about her brand-new Miss Marple mystery, MURDER AT THE GRAND ALPINE HOTEL. Set at a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps in 1950, the novel strands a glamorous cast of guests inside during a violent snowstorm after a murder disguised as an accident.
Tuesday, October 6th at 6pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver to discuss her new book, PARTITA, on a live B&N “Poured Over” podcast taping from Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York City. Barbara will be in conversation with “Poured Over” cohost Miwa Messer.
On Sale the Week of September 28th in Hardcover
September 29th
AMERICAN HAGWON by Min Jin Lee (Fiction)
The men, women and children in AMERICAN HAGWON struggle to find satisfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year. Once comfortably middle class in Korea, John and Helen Koh and their three children find their lives upended --- first by a shocking betrayal by John’s oldest friend, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Desperately striving to regain their footing, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California --- where new vistas of opportunity open up for the children as their parents, strangers in a strange land, must adjust to a new life in which their experience and education mean little, and they set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures.
Cardinal | 9781538752036
THE AMERICAN WAY OF KILLING: The Invention of an Epidemic by Malcolm Gladwell (Cultural Studies/Social Science)
The United States has far more homicides than any of its peers around the world. Why? In this groundbreaking book, Malcolm Gladwell explores the American “peculiarity” --- how the world’s wealthiest country came to suffer from a problem typically only seen in the world’s poorest countries. Drawing on original interviews, archival and social science research, and his trademark insight, Gladwell approaches the American paradox through a series of stories. What can we learn from the miracle of a young gunshot victim in Washington, D.C.? How have the legal troubles of a 17th-century English knight influenced American attempts at gun control? Why would a European police chief be baffled by the graduation ceremony at any American police academy?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316603782
BRADY: An American Story and the Price of Greatness by Lars Anderson (Sports/Biography)
Former Sports Illustrated journalist Lars Anderson plunges into Tom Brady’s childhood to discover the origins of what Brady later described as his “sickness”: his category-five obsession with the game. The obsession dictated every choice Brady made --- from what foods he ate to how he managed his day-to-day schedule to how he viewed his role as father to his three children and husband to supermodel Gisele Bündchen. From more than 350 original interviews with people who know the quarterback on and off the field, Anderson paints a detailed psychological portrait of Tom Brady, a self-described loner whose life is defined by discipline, resilience, a fascination with preparation, an intolerance for wasted time, and a relentless pursuit of the extraordinary.
Celadon Books | 9781250360304
THE CAULDRON: The Making of the Modern Middle East by Simon Sebag Montefiore (History)
Renowned historian Simon Sebag Montefiore wades into the ideological battles and geopolitical tensions of the Middle East with a comprehensive and nuanced chronicle that situates the region in the context of its last 125 years. Few understand the real history of the Middle East; fewer still understand its variety and cosmopolitanism, its complexity and interconnectedness. Taking the reader on a spectacular journey from the Ottoman sultanate to the Trump presidency, from Morocco to Iran, THE CAULDRON is a dazzling panorama of faith and fanaticism, creativity and tolerance, dictatorship and democracy brought to life by an extraordinary cast of kings, warriors, poets, terrorists and peacemakers.
Knopf | 9780593805053
COME CLOSER: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love, and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy by Dr. Galit Atlas (Psychology/Personal Growth)
What is the secret of emotional intimacy? How can understanding our childhood experiences give us the insights we need to be close to others in a truly satisfying, longer lasting and more meaningful way? In COME CLOSER, Galit Atlas invites us inside the private lives of her patients --- and into her own --- to offer new, life-changing answers to these important questions. Atlas has identified six child archetypes --- the frightened child, the melancholic child, the ashamed child, the invisible child, the guilty child, and the chosen child --- and in these pages, she shows how each childhood wound plays out in our adult relationships.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668067147
DODGE CITY by Patrick deWitt (Historical Fiction)
It’s 1967 in Los Angeles, and Lee Clarke has received his draft notice, calling him up to fight in the Vietnam War. A straitlaced, apolitical 23-year-old, Lee is studying at UCLA until a fistfight leads to his expulsion --- and his removal from the deferment list. Although he is happy in California and loves his girlfriend, he will leave the country and head for the border. Bringing only a single suitcase and a bag of amphetamines, he makes his stimulated progress against the width of the country, pining for the life he’s left behind and wondering what his decision will mean for his future. But he's not just saying goodbye to the country of his birth. In four different towns strung out along the northern United States, Lee visits each member of his immediate family.
Ecco | 9780063438118
THE DYING LIGHT: A Detective Matthew Venn Novel by Ann Cleeves (Mystery)
The body of a young woman, Lottie, is found in the swimming pool of a luxurious holiday home. The girl’s best friend, Hannah, whose family owns the house, is missing. The girls had arrived a few days earlier to celebrate the end of their school exams, quickly stirring unrest in the small community with incendiary social media videos mocking the place as parochial. When further tragedy strikes, Detective Matthew Venn and his team begin questioning a community filled with secrets. The fact that Hannah’s father, Paul Armstrong, is a rising political star with powerful enemies draws intense media scrutiny to the case. With the summer heat come holidaymakers, and it emerges that some of them may have stronger connections with the Armstrong family than first thought.
Minotaur Books | 9781250836809
FICTIONAL SELVES: A Memoir by Kyle MacLachlan (Memoir)
Kyle MacLachlan’s funny, moving and playfully self-aware memoir charts a career that could belong to no other. Plucked from obscurity to star in David Lynch’s Dune, the Hollywood blockbuster that never was, MacLachlan rebounded with a startling performance in Lynch’s provocative masterpiece, Blue Velvet, which would mark him as a master of the unusual and ultimately lead to his career-defining role as Agent Dale Cooper on the TV sensation “Twin Peaks.” FICTIONAL SELVES is a book of doppelgängers, with MacLachlan mirrored by his own prodding ego (“Other Kyle”), the iconic characters he inhabited, and the ones that eluded his grasp but gave him a profound and surprising lens onto himself as a person and a performer.
Crown | 9798217086320
THE FRENCH ILLUSION by John Grisham (Thriller)
After Paul and Chelsea Tanner’s fairy-tale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would target them, and why? It turns out this is not the first crime of its kind. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA and French intelligence trying to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation.
Doubleday | 9780385550543
GALINDA: A Charmed Childhood by Gregory Maguire (Fantasy)
Who was Glinda the Good Witch before she floated down in her bubble to greet Dorothy? Who was Glinda before she became Elphaba Thropp’s magnetic and popular roommate at Shiz University? The youngest of four children in a high-born family down on their luck, Galinda is both pampered and ignored. Her natural grace promises to elevate her in the district dance competitions. But these efforts distract her from seeing the growing resentments of local merchants who disapprove of her family’s business strategies. As her father deftly pivots around the snares and nets laid for him by his competitors, Galinda begins to dance toward a life that might lift her above her proud, if hardscrabble, childhood.
William Morrow | 9780063495272
GHOST BARN: A Dave Gurney Novel by John Verdon (Mystery/Thriller)
A local election sees a powerful real estate mogul with plans for a massive development face off against a librarian and ardent conservationist. Protests erupt, battle lines are drawn between ideological camps, and the future of a once-idyllic hamlet hangs in the balance. When bodies start turning up, and the local police turn a blind eye, Dave Gurney suspects he’s the town’s only hope to stop the carnage that is tearing everybody apart. But involvement comes at a price. Can he ignore what’s happening and potentially let a murderer run amok, or will he once again dive into the darkness, giving into his obsessive need to solve the unsolvable --- even if it costs him his wife for good?
Counterpoint | 9781640097254
THE KING OF ALOE VERA by Tomas Moniz (Fiction)
Seventy-five-year-old Rey has lived on the same block in San Francisco’s Mission District for most of his life, watching his city transform. A widower for 10 years, he spends most of his time volunteering at the library. But by the end of the month, Rey must move into a senior retirement and leave his neighborhood behind. It’s at the library during one of his last shifts where he meets Q, on probation, post-breakup with her girlfriend and dealing with a troubled family. As Rey tries to decide what to do with the rest of his days, literally counting them off and cutting his remaining ties, Q begins to insert herself into his world in a way that he can't deny.
Algonquin Books | 9781523536092
LONDON STATION by David McCloskey (Political Thriller)
A new US administration has taken office, installing a brash and unconventional CIA director. When the axe falls on the chief of London Station, the agency veteran decides to spy for the Brits --- a betrayal uncovered by his replacement, Artemis Aphrodite Procter. Caught between a turncoat spymaster and a ruthless new boss back at Langley, Procter now must navigate a tense environment as old friends become adversaries and no one knows whom to trust. Adding to the chaos is a new breed of private intelligence agency: a secretive and powerful company run by a reclusive billionaire. When assets begin dying, Procter and her team in London Station must find out who is leaking the sources’ identities --- and why --- before both agencies go blind.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324123217
THE MANY PRIVATE LIVES OF MISSY COOKE by Jane Green (Fiction)
Missy Cooke’s parents divorced when she was young. While her mother did her best to make ends meet, her father devoted his life to work --- and his new family. Missy only knew him from afar. But when he came to visit, his light shone bright. He was Silicon Valley tech titan Marty Cooke. Now an adult, Missy’s life is a constant negotiation between her own desires and the towering expectations of her father. But when a devastating diagnosis forces Marty to step down from his tech empire, ipryy, he chooses Missy. Thrust into a world of high-stakes board meetings and cutthroat corporate politics, Missy is completely out of her depth. When she uncovers a dark secret that threatens to destroy everything her father built, she must decide what kind of leader she will become.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335449610
MESTRA: A Short Story by Madeline Miller (Mythological Fiction)
Mestra, daughter of the King of Thessaly, is granted a unique gift by Poseidon: the ability to transform herself into any being she can imagine. Her father, on the other hand, is cursed. As punishment for disrespecting the goddess Demeter, he is in possession of an unnatural, insatiable hunger. Devoted Mestra suggests using her new gift to help her father. But if his hunger is bottomless, how much will he take from her? Soon she must decide: Will she keep helping her father survive or finally break free?
Ecco | 9780063566286
NANTUCKET CHRISTMAS STROLL by Nancy Thayer (Fiction)
The Nantucket Christmas Stroll is the most wonderful time of year on the island. At the heart of this celebration is the Parsons family and the sparkling house party they host each year. Brick Parsons and his wife, Jane, eagerly anticipate the arrival of their three adult children who are all coming home for the holidays. Together, the family celebrates the Stroll, reuniting with old friends and lovers on the tree-lit Main Street. But the holiday cheer is soon overshadowed by the stress of the season as secrets are revealed and emotions run high. Champagne flows and Christmas-themed canapes are enjoyed as the Parsons family come together on the night of the party, proving that family and the power of love can make any season bright.
Ballantine Books | 9780593723968
NIGHTJARS by Michael Wehunt (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
On a rainy night, Luke Oshel gets stood up halfway through dinner. But before his date walks off to the bathroom and never returns, she leaves an old photograph under her napkin --- Luke as a child, a dead body in the shadows of his bedroom, and a terrifying masked man. He has no recollection of this event. Then more photos disrupt his life --- Luke posing with murder victims, covered in blood --- and he falls back into the deep paranoia and repressed memories he has tried to leave behind. All the drugs and alcohol, therapy and hypnosis sessions have never conquered his deepest fear --- that he hasn’t escaped the hidden legacy of his late father, who killed his victims by blood loss. But now there is a new string of serial killings, and the evidence all points to Luke.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250333728
PLY by Hernan Diaz (Fiction)
Centuries from now, at the dawn of a historical epoch filled with both uncertainty and promise, an orphan is adrift in a city on the brink of a great transformation. The state has been dismantled, and humans are reinventing social bonds and learning new ways to coexist with nature. Following a childhood defined by loss, survival and found family, the orphan grows up to become a “pincher,” someone who steals electricity from the grid to sell it on the black market. It’s a high-risk life, one that brings her into a rich art and music scene where she powers underground concerts. It also leads her to a colossal scientific invention that could change the very fabric of reality.
Riverhead Books | 9780593719541
THE RADIANCE by Ayad Akhtar (Fiction)
When a hit-and-run shatters more than his body, a writer is plunged into a spiritual awakening he can’t tell from madness. In its grip, he’s drawn to a brilliant campus colleague by an uncanny pull, and into a scandal that threatens to destroy them both. What begins as a provocative portrait of academic and cultural warfare deepens into erotic entanglement, the exposure of a family secret, and the mystery surrounding the narrator’s accident --- both the violence and its aftermath. Moving between rural America and Europe, Islam and Christianity, the intimate and the metaphysical, THE RADIANCE is of our American moment and beyond it --- asking not only what has broken, but what radiance remains.
S&S/Summit Books | 9781668078631
RESTORATION by Carol Davis (Historical Fiction)
It is 1984, and Risa Meier has built a successful life in San Francisco. But when her estranged mother unexpectedly reenters her life after nearly a decade of silence, old wounds resurface. As a series of personal tragedies force Risa to confront the past, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her family, herself and the future she carefully planned. Seeking distance and a fresh start, Risa accepts an opportunity in rural England, where she is tasked with restoring a centuries-old barn. As hidden histories emerge through letters, memories and the landscape itself, the restoration becomes more than a professional challenge. The deeper she digs into the building's past, the more she is forced to confront her own inheritance of grief, loss and longing.
Rise Books | 9781959524199
RUTHLESS by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Shipping magnate John Randall Williams is at sea after the recent death of his wife. About to face his first Christmas alone, John meets a young woman named Lillith at a dinner party and is immediately drawn to her beauty. He invites her to share the holiday with him on his sailboat in Saint Barts. Charlotte Ramsay, a senior editor at Vanity Fair, is on assignment in Saint Barts during the holidays. She has come to the island to interview another powerful man: high-tech billionaire Ben Sharpe, whose luxury yacht is also anchored in the harbor. Though the first interview goes badly, she eventually agrees to have dinner with him and becomes intrigued by the real man behind the facade. A chance encounter between the two couples sets the stage for a face-off between Charlotte and John.
Delacorte Press | 9780593973301
SOPHIE, STANDING THERE by Meg Mason (Fiction)
Sophie Pattison loves books. Along with a dream job at a local book festival, she has a husband she adores; a lifelong best friend, Emma; and a brother she’s always been close to. Which makes you wonder why since Christmas, Sophie has been living alone, estranged from Emma, avoiding her brother, and about to be fired. Now it feels like the only thing she has left is reading. When Sophie rediscovers an author she first read in her 20s, the words on the page reach her in a new way --- becoming both solace and company. Sophie devours every one of the author's novels and begins to dream of meeting her, but knows they never will. But what if she did? What if, by then, the author feels like a friend? What if, for Sophie, it feels almost like love?
Harper | 9780063493131
THE STEPS: A Memoir by Sylvester Stallone (Memoir)
In the 50 years since Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, he and those steps have become symbols of resilience and determination, and have inspired millions from all over the world to pursue their dreams. In THE STEPS, Stallone recounts how he pursued his own dreams. A culmination of decades of reflection, Stallone shares where he came from --- a difficult birth, an even more difficult childhood, years of struggle in school being misunderstood --- and he explains how the real story of a successful life is built by facing, embracing and ultimately overcoming our challenges. It’s found in the distances we are willing to go and the steps we must take to get from where we are to where we want to go.
William Morrow | 9780063443914
TRAD WIFE by Sarah Langan (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic 300-acre farm. But behind every perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror. Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and camera-ready poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny’s dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes. She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.
Atria Books | 9781668229651
THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF FIRST LADY FREEMAN by Deesha Philyaw (Fiction)
Scharisse Freeman ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor 15 years her senior. She doesn’t have many allies, but that hasn’t stopped her from building an enviable business empire spanning books to clothing to branded products, and living the comfortable life her husband's power affords her. On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the final bit of validation she’s always dreamt of: a coveted invitation to participate in the First Lady USA pageant. This is her chance to be accepted by the other pastors’ wives. Finally, blissfully, the ice between Schar and the other First Ladies begins to thaw. But as the pageant nears, a sensational scandal breaks with Schar at its center, and her carefully curated life implodes.
Mariner Books | 9780063383074
THE VANISHING FAMILY: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia by Robert Kolker (Science/Biography)
In Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, there lived a family with nine siblings, the youngest a girl named Barb. As the older children headed off to college, only Barb was home to see their mother fall under a gothic spell, changing into someone she didn’t recognize. We learn that this family has a genetic mutation that causes dementia, but with an especially cruel twist. As early as their 40s, formerly loving parents and hard-driving executives will lose their jobs, have affairs, take up drinking, and become people their families hardly know. Their former personalities seem to vanish --- and there is a 50-50 chance that it will happen to their children, too. THE VANISHING FAMILY unfolds like a heartbreaking thriller as the siblings begin to realize that what happened to their mother is happening to them.
Doubleday | 9780385551038
THE WEIGHT OF ANGELS by John Boyne (Alternate History)
When the Marquess of Queensberry left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words: “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite.” The most celebrated playwright of his day famously sued for libel, which led to his arrest, criminal prosecution and, ultimately, prison. From then on, his gilded existence spiraled into public disgrace, humiliation and an early death. But what if he had simply ignored the insult? What direction might his life have taken? Rather than dying in penury in Paris at age 46, what if Wilde had lived to bear witness to the momentous events and cataclysmic changes of the first part of the 20th century, and even influence some of them? What if the second half of his life was as dramatic, tumultuous and exhilarating as the first?
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250411365
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO RIGHT?: The Essential Journey to Scale an Enduring Culture by Danny Meyer (Business & Leadership/Memoir)
In 2006, Danny Meyer owned 11 restaurants, was nurturing a single parkside burger kiosk called Shake Shack, and had just written a bestselling book, SETTING THE TABLE, about his company’s unique culture of Enlightened Hospitality. On the first page of that book, Danny proudly declared that in 25 years he had never closed a restaurant. But just a few years later, he shuttered his beloved Tabla, a decision that filled him with shame --- but sparked a reckoning within him about what it means to be a leader. Danny realized that his fear of failure wasn’t just misguided; it was an impediment to his innate entrepreneurial spirit. In WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO RIGHT?, he takes the reader along on his journey to learn how he’s delivered a winning culture of excellence at scale.
Random House | 9780593731772
On Sale the Week of September 28th in Paperback
September 29th
ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert (Memoir/Self-Help)
In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening?
Riverhead Books | 9780593540992
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, all of which threaten to tear down the walls he’s spent a decade building.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538770160
BUCKEYE by Patrick Ryan (Historical Fiction)
In the jubilant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, shares a single, life-altering moment with Margaret Salt, a woman determined to outrun her past. Cal is married to Becky, whose spiritual gifts help the living speak to the dead, while Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving at sea, believed to be safe --- until a telegram suggests otherwise. What begins as a fleeting transgression becomes a complex secret that irrevocably binds all four of them in unexpected ways. As their small Ohio town remakes itself in the postwar boom, the Salt and Jenkins families remain in each other’s orbit, and the consequences of choices made long ago begin to emerge, reshaping their lives in ways that will forever impact the next generation.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593595053
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 | 9780593974698
I THINK WE SHOULD KILL OTHER PEOPLE by L.M. Chilton (Mystery & Thriller/Humor)
Paperback Original
Hazel and Marc were paired together on “Love Synced,” a revolutionary reality AI dating show that matches hopeful lovers. But when it came time to say “I do,” Hazel left her perfect match at the altar. Now all she wants to do is fly home. Instead, she’s trapped at a tiny, snowed-in airport with her ex and his obnoxiously rich family. But when they start turning up dead, a jilted lover is the least of Hazel's worries. There’s a serial killer to catch first. The heart is a fickle thing, so it’s no surprise that AI couldn’t predict true love for Hazel. But can it help crack the case when a murderer is picking off her almost-in-laws one by one?
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668094211
THE IRISH GOODBYE by Heather Aimee O'Neill (Fiction)
It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a fatal accident on their brother Topher’s boat. Now the Ryan women are back and eager to reconnect, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush. Middle sister Alice has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother. When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250408167
A KILLER WEDDING by Joan O'Leary (Mystery/Humor)
Editor Christine Russo can't believe her luck. She's been chosen by the iconic Gloria Beaufort, founder of a billion-dollar beauty empire, to cover her grandson's wedding for Bespoke, the elite fashion magazine read by every A-lister. It feels too good to be true. Because it is. Gloria is found dead on the first morning of the celebratory weekend, and her entire family wants to keep her death a secret and for the wedding to march on. When Gloria's heirs issue a chilling warning to Christine to keep things quiet, she can't help but wonder if one of them is guilty of murder. As she navigates a world where glamour masks grimy secrets and everyone she meets is a suspect, she realizes that among this glitzy elite nothing is as it seems.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063432222
LADY OF UNCANNY CHARMS by Charlie N. Holmberg (Historical Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Owein arrives in England to marry Lady Cora of Leiningen, his dearest friend and confidante he’s known mostly through letters. However, Queen Victoria has other plans in store for the centuries-old wizard. The queen is obsessed with preserving magic, and she believes Owein is the key to pursuing her lofty ambitions. Torn from his family, his home and his betrothed, Owein is pushed into the Queen’s League of Magicians, where he learns that the Crown’s upheaval of his life is only the beginning of his problems. Meanwhile, Cora must push aside her broken heart and use her own spells and resources to uncover truths that the queen wants hidden. As new threats, former loves, untapped spells and even older souls than Owein collide, his next choice could be his last.
47North | 9781662531224
LUCKY NIGHT by Eliza Kennedy (Fiction)
After six years of a stolen hour here, another there, tonight is going to be different for Nick Holloway and Jenny Parrish. They’ve booked a room in a new luxury hotel in Manhattan, where they’ll spend the entire night together for the first time. Expectations are running high for this brief reprieve from ordinary life: they both need a good bout of ravishing sex and witty conversation. But that’s not what they get. Because they’ve barely gotten started when a smoke alarm goes off. Nick is annoyed but not worried about what must be only a minor glitch. Jenny is anxious and guilty. Is karma coming for them at last? LUCKY NIGHT seamlessly shifts between Nick and Jenny’s perspectives as the reality of their situation becomes apparent, and all their secrets, evasions and regrets come spilling out.
Crown | 9780593800850
THE MIDNIGHT GUESTS by Alex Hay (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
1926. Diana Gold, owner and impresario, throws open the doors to the most opulent new hotel in London. As the champagne flows and the chandeliers shimmer, millionaires and gamblers rub shoulders with film stars and royalty. But things at the Hotel Artemis aren’t quite what they seem --- including the two guests Diana expects at midnight. Powerful and dangerous, they’ve dragged her from the gutter and taught her all she knows. Now Diana must take perfect care of them --- unless they take care of her first. But when a body is found in the hotel’s finest suite, the lavish opening night begins to spiral out of control. And over 24 fateful hours, the staff and guests of the Artemis will find out why they are really there.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335001580
THE OCTOBER FILM HAUNT by Michael Wehunt (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Ten years ago, Jorie Stroud was the rising star of the October Film Haunt --- a trio of horror enthusiasts who camped out at the filming locations of their favorite scary movies, sharing their love through their popular blog. But after a night in the graveyard from Proof of Demons --- perhaps the most chilling cult film ever made, directed by the enigmatic Hélène Enriquez --- everything unraveled. Now, Jorie has built an isolated life with her young son in Vermont. In the devastating wake of her viral, truth-stretching Proof of Demons blog entry, Jorie has put it all behind her. Until a videotape arrives in the mail. Jorie fears someone might be filming her. And the “Rickies” --- Enriquez obsessives who would do anything for the reclusive director --- begin to cross lines in shocking ways. It seems Hélène Enriquez is making a new kind of sequel…and Jorie is her final girl.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250333711
PENDERGAST: THE BEGINNING by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand-new FBI agent --- A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended. Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. Thanks in large part to Pendergast’s brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer. That is when the true horror begins.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538765760
A SEA GLASS CHRISTMAS by Davis Bunn (Romance)
Two days before his 21st birthday, Brody Reames left the Outer Banks to fulfill his dream of sailing. He knew leaving his hometown wouldn’t be forever, but to mend a disillusioned heart in Fortunate Harbor, it was for the best. Still, he never expected that a family upheaval and his loving mother’s plea would call him back. With Christmas nearing, Brody is coming home again --- to a crisp chill in the air and a warm former flame. An attorney for the Outer Banks’ five-star oceanfront resort and resident treasure hunter, Rae Alden has a life that is adventurous, rewarding...and lonely. But now, after eight years, she sees Brody again. Like waves along the Crystal Coast, emotions thought long-gone come rushing back. But with both of them facing family turmoil and secrets yet to be revealed, how promising is a new chance at happiness, no matter how powerful the yearning?
Kensington | 9781496754271
THE SISTERS OF CRIMSON HOUSE by Melissa Anderson Sweazy (Supernatural Thriller/Gothic Horror)
Paperback Original
The only woman in a long line of famous psychics to not inherit the family gift, Charley Bryde spends her days inside Crimson House, the coveted family mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, living in the shadows of her talented older sister, Miranda. But when a shocking tragedy scatters the Brydes across the globe, Charley is forced to grow up on her own. As the money runs dry and Charley's ownership of Crimson House is put at risk, she turns the manor into a haunted attraction and starts representing the family brand with lies, cons and expertly read tarot cards. When a skeptic starts targeting Charley for the fraud that she is, she'll stop at nothing to save the family legacy. But the skeptics' arrival cracks something open in Charley that the Brydes wanted to remain buried. Deep.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464272356
THE SWORD OF LIGHT by Heather Graham (Fantasy/Romance)
The mystical Tuatha Dé Danann walked the hills of ancient Ireland long before the first Rí, or king, ever ruled the land. Before they stepped back to make way for mankind, they left behind objects of incredible power that would reveal themselves when most needed. When invaders from the North arrive, it feels like the moment that has long been foretold has finally come. Deidre, the daughter of a Rí, and Kylin, the son of a Northman who found peace and a home in Éire, have little in common, until they begin seeing visions of these fantastical gifts. The revelation that a traitor exists among the many Irish kings forces them to work together using their newfound powers in defense of their homeland. As all they hold dear comes under threat, it may be more than just dreams that the two begin to share.
Mira | 9780778306634
TWELVE MONTHS: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Urban Fantasy)
Harry Dresden has been through a lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies narrowly managed to save Chicago from being razed to the ground, everything is different --- and it’s not just the current lack of electricity. In the battle, Harry lost people he cared about. And that's the kind of loss that takes a toll. Harry being Harry, he’s doing his level best to help the city and his friends recover and rebuild. But it’s a heavy load, and he needs time. But time is one thing Harry doesn’t have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and taking out innocent civilians. Harry’s brother is dying, and Harry doesn’t know how to help him. And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the Fae has allied with the White Court of vampires --- and Harry has been betrothed to the seductive, deadly vampire Lara Raith to seal the deal.
Ace | 9780593199343
UNGRATEFUL IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER: A Memoir from the Child of a Mail-Order Bride by Katya Suvorova (Memoir)
Paperback Original
Growing up undocumented in Houston, Texas, Katya Suvorova learned that keeping her family together meant dodging the police, enduring her mother’s many husbands, and babysitting her younger sister instead of finishing the third grade. Her understanding of her life shifted dramatically at 17, when Katya discovered her mother’s advertisement in a forgotten Eastern European mail-order bride catalog from the 1990s. As she grew older, Katya came to better understand what her mother had risked when she smuggled herself and her then-three-year-old daughter from Russia into the US. UNGRATEFUL IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER explores difficult questions and stories both shocking and hilarious across Katya’s childhood through to an adulthood estranged from the woman who sacrificed everything for her.
Alcove Press | 9798892426855
A VOW IN VENGEANCE by Jaclyn Rodriguez (Fantasy/Romance)
Rune Ryker has nothing left to lose. Everything has been stolen by the Immortals --- her family, her home, her freedom. Each year, humans are forced to journey into the Immortal Realms, but 20-year-old Rune orchestrates her own selection, determined to find her family and destroy anyone who stands in her way. Rune is used to doing whatever it takes to survive, and now she must endure the Forge, a cutthroat college for the Immortal druids’ elusive tarot magic. When Rune’s magic reveals itself to be the rarest and most powerful, she must live with its only other wielder: Prince Draven. As arrogant as he is ruthlessly ambitious, he’s the last person she can trust. Rune’s abilities also draw the eyes of the most dangerous druids in the realms. Some want to use her. More want her dead. Draven offers to train her…for a price.
Slowburn | 9781638934769
WHAT STALKS THE DEEP by T. Kingfisher (Gothic Horror/Dark Fantasy)
Alex Easton does not want to visit America. They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted. But when their old friend, Dr. Denton, summons them to help find his lost cousin --- who went missing in that very mine --- well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250463647
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE by Jade Chang (Fiction)
Lola Treasure Gold can’t figure out her life. She’s broke, unemployed and back in her childhood home, a crumbling cottage in the Hollywood Hills. Worse --- unspeakably worse --- one of her closest friends has just died. So nobody is more surprised than Lola when a jackpot falls in her lap: she stars in a viral video, opening a surprising path for her to become a self-help guru. With the encouragement of her other best friend, Celi, Lola embraces the public interest in her perceived message. But is she a scammer or a sage? Just as Lola is telling others to be their own guiding lights, she can’t seem to find hers. She’s grieving, accused of using the notoriety of her friend’s death to fuel her rise, and full of questions about the fate of her mother.
Ecco | 9780063416406
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 | 9780063426030
THE WILDERNESS by Angela Flournoy (Fiction)
Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique and Nakia are in their early 20s and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood, and of big-city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood --- overwhelming, mysterious, and full of freedom and consequences --- swoops in and stays. As these friends move from the late 2000s into the late 2020s, from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another --- amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.
Mariner Books | 9780063318816
WITCH TRIAL by Harriet Tyce (Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
When 18-year-old Christian Shaw is found dead in a park, the city of Edinburgh is stunned. The shock only deepens when police charge her best friends, Eliza Lawson and Isobel Smyth, with the murder. Rumors of bullying are overshadowed by something more wicked and frightening: whispers of dark rituals, feverish obsession, and a teenage pact gone wrong. Matthew Phillips is a respected heart surgeon picked for the jury. As the trial unfolds --- and the girls’ lawyers offer a surprising and unsettling defense --- the reluctant Matthew finds himself questioning everything: the motives, the evidence, even his own judgment. Then he begins to have strange visions of terrifying things --- hallucinations he tells himself. After all, witchcraft isn’t real. Or is it?
Harper Perennial | 9780063492936
A WOODED SHORE: And Other Stories by Thomas McGuane (Fiction/Short Stories)
In these nine peerless stories, a family boating trip veers into emotional disaster while very narrowly avoiding the physical; a would-be cheater hands over his car --- his prized possession --- for a shot with a pretty girl; a furniture magnate and his filmmaker daughter visit his impoverished hometown; a doctor’s long-ago affair returns with a bitter pill. Crackling with wry humor, shot through with both wisdom and pain, these are stories of grifters and dreamers, of the lovelorn and the lawless, stories of the ongoing dissonance between the lives we want and the lives this world will allow.
Vintage | 9780345805935
October 1st
CAPITAL PARTNERS: A Financial Thriller by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Thriller)
Paperback Original
When hedge fund owner Jay Montgomery raids his own fund, he disappears with millions belonging to his investors --- who include his wife, Grace; his dead partner's widow; and a vengeful Russian oligarch. Longtime frenemies, Grace and widow Dana want their money back and reluctantly team up. Their pursuit turns deadly when two people connected to Jay are killed. Tracking down a disenchanted AI pioneer in the UK confirms their suspicions: Their every move is being monitored, analyzed and anticipated by a sophisticated AI system programmed to optimize outcomes, not protect people. But there is one thing the system cannot fully account for: the irrational, emotional, deeply human choices determined people make when everything is at stake.
The Red Herrings Press | 9781966678175
TRUST NO ONE by Mary Burton (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
After 17 years away, public defender Raine Hale returns to her family’s crumbling Virginia estate when her estranged cousin, Maria, is hospitalized following a near-fatal cyanide poisoning. As sole beneficiary of Hale House and guardian to Maria’s five-year-old daughter, Molly, Raine confronts a troubling legacy she vowed never to revisit --- and is thrust into a deadly mystery. But she can’t trust anyone. When people begin dying, Hale House becomes as dangerous as the secrets it holds. With a killer circling closer and Molly’s life in her hands, Raine must unravel generations of family deceptions before she becomes the next victim buried in the family plot.
Montlake | 9781662530333
On Sale the Week of October 5th in Hardcover
October 6th
ADAM AND EVE by Jeffrey Archer (Historical Thriller)
November 11, 1918. As the guns of the First World War fall silent, two babies draw their first breath. Eve is the daughter of an Earl, and Adam is a shepherd's son. Yet, from their first meeting, they form an extraordinary bond that neither privilege nor prejudice can break. Then, on a single September night in 1940, as Hitler prepares to invade the British Isles, their actions will change his mind --- determining not just their own futures but the fate of a nation. They will show extraordinary courage. They will make unimaginable sacrifices. And the story of what they did will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
HarperCollins | 9780008640385
BAD WORDS by Ríoghnach Robinson (Romance)
Parker Navarro’s debut novel was meant to define his career --- until critic Selina Chan’s blistering review made it the flop of the decade. Four years later, his new book is his shot at redemption; for Selina, reviewing him again is a professional risk she can’t refuse. When her second takedown ignites a viral feud, both their fortunes shift overnight. But as the literary world feeds on their public sparring, a quieter dialogue begins --- one that challenges everything they thought they knew about success, sincerity and each other.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250431295
BLACKOUT: A Jake Bendel Thriller by J. Luke Bennecke (Political Techno-thriller)
When the President of the United States is assassinated in a coordinated drone strike, the country plunges into chaos. Behind the assassination stands Tracy Ciacchella, a brilliant and ruthless leader of a shadowy global cabal known only as New3. Their plan is to eliminate the president, cripple the nation's power grid, and plunge the US into darkness long enough for rival superpowers to seize the advantage. When cascading blackouts sweep across the nation and martial law looms, civil engineer Jake Bendel teams up with FBI agent Kristi Konnors to track the network orchestrating the attacks. What they uncover is far more dangerous than a cyberattack --- an international conspiracy positioned to hand America's collapse to China and Russia. Then the conspiracy becomes personal.
Jaytech Publishing | 9798990527379
CORMAC McCARTHY: A Legacy Revisited by Tracy Daugherty (Biography)
Cormac McCarthy is hailed as one of America’s greatest novelists. In his body of work, the nation’s story is told in incomparably vivid shades of violence, greed and love. And yet, most of his personal story has been largely untold --- until now. Early in life, McCarthy chose to devote himself almost exclusively to his literary pursuits. This book movingly details what this choice cost him in his family relationships, his marriages and his friendships. Mentally and physically restless, often solitary, and yet gregarious and charming, McCarthy lived as wildly, complexly and close to the bone as any of his characters. In his novels, he reported wisdom hard-learned through harsh experience and intense observation.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250348722
DARK READING MATTER: The Last Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde (Science Fiction & Mystery/Humor)
Ex-Literary Special Ops agent Thursday Next is embarking on her eighth and final fictional adventure, and she is well aware of the fact. The problem is, others are aware of it, too. Old foes and new are plotting a terrible revenge: to disrupt the narrative and make the last Thursday Next novel, Dark Reading Matter, not just unreadable but unpublishable. Thursday can’t let that happen, and she needs to use all her guile and narrative trickery to unmask the antagonists.
Soho Press | 9781641296687
DEATH OF AN ORDINARY MAN by Sarah Perry (Memoir)
DEATH OF AN ORDINARY MAN opens on a charming, merry seaside scene in late August. Sarah Perry; her husband; and her father-in-law, David are at the Yarmouth carnival they’ve gone to every summer for decades. The day was fine, Perry tells us, and the shining tide was going out. The next time Sarah sees David three weeks later, watching him approach across the market, she knows instantly and with a certainty she’s never had before: David is dying. He’ll be dead in less than three months’ time from a rare and swiftly moving cancer. What follows is Perry’s intimate account of sitting at David’s bedside across the final days of his life.
Mariner Books | 9780063480568
DIVE BAR AT THE END OF THE ROAD by Kelley Armstrong (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Just before midnight, a car swerves to avoid something --- or someone --- mysteriously standing in the road, only to slam into a fallen tree instead. In the pitch black, four more cars follow in a pileup no one can seem to avoid. Stumbling out of the wreckage, five strangers find themselves in a backwoods dive bar, waiting for daybreak and hoping for cell service. But as tensions rise and a storm rages on outside, the occupants of the dive bar start to notice that not everything is as it seems. Time is moving differently, and they quickly learn that going outside --- whether to assist another accident victim or to hike for help --- is a very bad idea. There’s something in the woods, something that isn't natural. Could the figure in the road have been a warning? Or something more sinister?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250360595
DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When author Nicholas Child is dropped by his publisher, his agent sends him to spend the holidays at the Cape Cod mansion of her other client, Marco Tavares. Marco needs to finish the long-overdue follow-up to his bestselling novel, and Nicholas is going to help him. But when Nicholas arrives at Marco’s sprawling seaside estate, he finds himself in the middle of a gathering where holiday cheer is in short supply --- and every visitor seems to have a motive to kill their host. The most intriguing guest is James Beers, a writer who believes that Marco’s bestselling novel was based on one of his ideas. As Christmas Day approaches, a single boozy night culminates in two corpses, and Nicholas becomes convinced that the whole thing was a setup from the start.
William Morrow | 9780063433670
EVERY STORY IS A LOVE STORY by Imbolo Mbue (Fiction)
Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life. But then a letter arrives one day that threatens to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil, and his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it. Wolo ponders it for days and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared.
Random House | 9798217154777
FAIR ONES: A Double Novel by Lydia Millet (Fiction)
FAIR ONES follows two Brooklyn women in their 40s who are reeling from the sudden and baffling death of their friend, Claire. Fair, Mara’s account, opens in the wake of initial shock as she and Jen come to grips with the enigma of Claire’s killing. Ones, told from Jen’s point of view, picks up a year later as she and Mara wrestle with new relationships and old secrets. In this vibrant, funny-sad fiction of companionship and solitude, the narrators’ inner and outer conversations, and their ongoing entanglement with the memory of Claire, explore the ways we create and define ourselves through others.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324123675
FIND ME WHERE IT ENDS by Cassandra Khaw (Dark Fantasy/Horror)
Antigone is no stranger to death. For the women of her family, death always comes in the form of a black dog. When Antigone’s own black dog arrives, she isn’t afraid. She invites it inside, where it soon becomes a daily source of companionship and comfort. It also forces her to reflect on the life she’s led --- the parts of herself she’s hollowed out for the sake of others, and the bone-deep exhaustion that’s hounded her every step. Her Death’s arrival must be a sign, permission to finally let go. To rest. Because while mortality is inevitable, living is a choice. But a good death comes at a price.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250877895
FORTUNE AND GLASS by John Mutter (Historical Fiction)
Berlin, 1932. Germany’s fragile democracy is fracturing, its ideals cracking like thin glass as political violence and paranoia seep into the streets. In the midst of this tension, Rudi, a young Foreign Ministry official, meets Sara, an unpredictable, morally fierce Jewish woman whose connection with him is immediate and combustible. By 1943, the Germany they knew has vanished, and Rudi works at the center of Nazi power, performing his duties by day and passing intelligence to the Allies by night --- until Sara’s unexpected return threatens to unravel the life he has carefully constructed to survive.
Left Field Publishing | 9781966883074
THE FOUR WIVES AND FIVE DEATHS OF RICHARD MILFORD by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Historical Fiction)
We find ourselves in 1920s Oklahoma, just far enough out of Tulsa, just long enough after the Race Massacre of 1921. For as long as anyone can remember, the Milfords have led plentiful lives on the backs of the townspeople of Newville. Now, on the ominous brink of the Great Depression and at the height of Prohibition, Richard Milford was an infamous moonshiner and womanizer who, it seems, finally crossed the wrong person at the wrong time. He’s dead and buried with only his women to mourn him, but a question remains: Who killed him, and why? Top suspects are his four “wives”: Lally, Sophronia, Georgette and Vivianne. But as their stories burst to light, the very idea of a true story comes apart before our eyes.
Scribner | 9781501168048
FRIENDS AND FAMILY by Natalie Baszile (Fiction)
Babs and Nora have spent a decade’s worth of morning walks sharing family secrets, local drama and advice --- everything from tips on lingerie choices to Babs’ suggestions to Nora, a white woman, on how to raise Nathan, her adopted Black son. But their worlds are turned upside down when the cops are called on their kids while they’re home alone, leading to a traumatic police encounter for Nathan. In the aftermath, Babs and Nora find themselves divided as never before, and Nathan looks for refuge with Babs and her family. Babs can see that Nathan is a young Black man without community trying to find himself. Torn between respecting Nora’s boundaries and embodying the values so important to her own family, Babs will make a choice that will shape their lives forever.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593492161
THE HOUSEKEEPER by Rose Tremain (Historical Romance)
Mrs. Danowski, known as Danni, is hired as a housekeeper at Manderville Hall, Lord Grenville-Whithers’ mansion on the wild coast of Cornwall. A loyal and lonely woman troubled by childhood memories of alienation, Danni dreams of finding love. Those dreams are fulfilled when Daphne du Maurier arrives at Manderville Hall for lunch with Grenville-Whithers. Succumbing to her secret sexual desire for women, Daphne begins a love affair with Danni. But, of course, such a love cannot last --- and both Danni and Daphne must deal with the aftermath of their passion. While Danni struggles to find a new place in the world, Daphne reconfigures the experience into her most famous work, REBECCA, with surprising results.
Harper | 9780063509474
HUNGERED by Amanda Rizkalla (Fiction)
Sofia’s mother promises that soon she’ll have her own bedroom to decorate. Soon, too, she’ll be able to see her friends, go back to school, and eat the colorful, tempting cakes in the grocery store’s display case. For now, though, 12-year-old Sofia lives with her mother and younger brother in their car. For now, Sofia’s days are a blur of freeways and strip malls as her mother searches for a safe place to park for the night. For now, Sofia tries to carve out a space and an identity for herself while grappling with her family’s disintegration.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250496508
LIFE OUT OF ORDER by Audrey Niffenegger (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Alba DeTamble has never lived a life in order. Born with the same rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder as her father, Henry, she slips unpredictably through decades, haunted by the secrets of a future she can witness but cannot change. As Alba strives to maintain a normal life with Zach, her safe, supportive anchor, she forms a tight-knit community of artists and activists who fight to take care of each other in an increasingly unstable world. LIFE OUT OF ORDER takes readers from the riot-torn streets of a dystopian Chicago to a digital museum for forgotten memories and lost artifacts. Curating this ever-expanding museum is Isadora, Alba’s mysterious stepsister and an unsettling presence in their family --- whose fate may be intertwined with Alba’s in more dangerous ways than she knows.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335003225
MURDER ON 34th STREET by Mariah Fredericks (Historical Mystery)
New York, 1932. Grace Verlander is the secret beating heart of Macy’s. She’s the go-to person for keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes at the famous, bustling store. Three days before the Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, Grace arrives at work to find a note from the store Santa Claus in her locker: someone has sent him a death threat. Grace promises to look into it and speaks to the store detective about the parade’s security, confident that they’ve found a solution that will keep everyone safe. But on the day of the parade, despite all their precautions, a dead body is found on one of the floats. Using her wits and deep knowledge of the ways of the place, Grace is determined to find the killer and seek justice.
Minotaur Books | 9781250367549
THE NAMES OF THE NEW WORLD by Kawai Strong Washburn (Fiction)
A ferocious superstorm strikes Minneapolis, leveling large swaths of the city in a matter of minutes. In the storm’s wake, three people forge an unlikely bond that will shape their lives for the next 25 years: Naomi, a disillusioned lawyer by day and amateur MMA fighter by night; Amaré, an up-by-the-bootstraps investment banker; and Raheem, a diesel mechanic struggling to save his business. When Naomi realizes that energy companies are responsible for the climate-induced superstorm, she initiates a bitter legal battle, one that culminates in her ascension to a political office in D.C. Yet her rise puts at risk a burgeoning romance with Amaré, whose own ambitions test Naomi’s ethical limits, while Raheem’s fate as a blue-collar business owner becomes dependent on the couple’s growing power.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374619701
THE OCCIDENTAL BOOK OF THE DEAD by T. Geronimo Johnson (Fiction)
After growing up in one of Atlanta’s poorest housing projects, George Washington Jonson enlists in the U.S. Army and finds some relief serving abroad. When events lead him back home, he joins the police force. It’s 1992, and Jonson is patrolling the streets he grew up on alongside his new partner, a shady legacy cop and self-described “redneck” who takes Jonson under his wing. After a decade on the job, Jonson has fashioned a new life in an affluent suburb with his white wife and stepson, though he is still policing his old neighborhood and is now tasked with training hot-headed rookie recruits. One night on patrol, a split-second confrontation with a white teenager takes a violent turn. That single gunshot sets into motion a series of escalating lies.
William Morrow | 9780063330542
ONE HELLUVA RIDE by Michael Douglas (Memoir)
Beginning with his fractured childhood and a complex relationship with his superstar father, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas finally gives the full and uncensored account of a remarkable life. ONE HELLUVA RIDE reveals incredible behind-the-scenes stories featuring a Who’s Who of Hollywood, with an unflinching honesty about his sometimes bad-boy life. As Douglas' fame grew, so did his personal struggles. He recounts the full, unfiltered story of his turbulent first marriage; infidelity and affairs with some of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood; his own serious struggle with alcohol, drugs and rehab; the heartbreaking fight to save his son from an addiction that sent him to prison; and his against-all-odds battle with stage IV cancer.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538782224
OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE: A Talisman Novel written by Stephen King and Peter Straub, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (Supernatural Thriller/Dark Fantasy)
This is Stephen King and Peter Straub’s long-awaited finale to the Talisman Trilogy and a wrapping up of the fate of the worlds in King’s iconic Dark Tower epic. OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE is the story of Jack Sawyer, whom readers first met in THE TALISMAN when he was 12, crossing America and “the territories” to save his mother’s life, and met again in BLACK HOUSE, where Jack faces a child killer and the Crimson King (among other evils). This time, Jack must stop a rampaging gang of infected teenagers from America-side, and the forces of the mysterious Gullet at the edge of Mid-World, before it destroys our world and all worlds. Jack is older now; his Ka-tet (echoing the world of Roland) is fraying; and his task is nearly impossible.
Scribner | 9781668233092
THE PARIS FILES by Eva Jurczyk (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Genie St. Onge and Jacob Ford’s connection is instantaneous and consuming. They agree to meet again in Paris, and they begin plotting their future together. In the dreamy apartment they're renting in the 11th arrondissement, they become intoxicated by each other. Until Jacob disappears. Genie knows Jacob would never leave her by choice. When phone calls to hospitals turn up nothing, she grows convinced that someone must have taken him. Under the scrutiny of the French police, however, Genie’s story doesn’t quite hold up --- and it sounds like Jacob might not be all he seems, either. Through police interviews with Genie and nearby residents of the 11th arrondissement, the truth remains elusive.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9798217060641
PARTITA by Barbara Kingsolver (Fiction)
Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request to see her again stirs up ghosts she’s kept at bay for a lifetime. Shifting between past and present, Livia’s decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion, and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life.
Harper | 9780063577541
PETRIFIED DREAMS: A Hap and Leonard Novel by Joe R. Lansdale (Mystery/Humor)
Hap Collins and Leonard Pine have called the detecting business quits, but when a prop plane holding the bodies of several kidnapped women crashes into their favorite watering hole, the boys know they’re in for one last effort. With the help of a victim’s sister, they learn that a network of men has stolen vulnerable young women on behalf of a horrifying, charismatic villain known as The Artist, a sculptor of living things, including his own body, and protected by the elite of the South. But the Artist refuses to be found, and every lead brings Hap and Leonard into the crosshairs of something even more dangerous. Finding The Artist is a long shot, and getting out alive is even less likely.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316609623
THE PHANTOM: The Untold Story of the American Marine the Nazis Could Not Kill by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (History)
Major Pierre “Pete” Ortiz was a Manhattan-born and Paris-educated polymath fluent in five languages. An adventuresome French Foreign Legion veteran specifically recruited by “Wild” Bill Donovan’s Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to both the CIA and U.S. Special Forces) upon his enlistment in the Marines, Ortiz was the officer “Wild Bill” instinctively knew he needed and could rely on to complete a string of clandestine missions. While recuperating from gunshot wounds received during a behind-the-lines excursion into enemy-held North Africa, Ortiz delivered his After-Action Report directly to Donovan in Washington. After reading it, “Wild Bill” scrawled across the top of the report: “Please re-employ this man as soon as possible.” Ortiz’s handlers heeded Donovan’s request.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250285850
RAVEN by Lyndsay Faye (Gothic/Historical Thriller)
After an itinerant childhood spent first with her mother’s traveling theater troupe and then being passed around from relative to relative, Raven Helen Allan is relieved to finally settle down with Aunt Berenice in her Baltimore townhouse. But when the household is threatened with financial ruin, she must set out to earn her own living. Taking a job as a paid companion, Raven arrives at the crumbling Moldavia Manor. Her charge is a delicate young invalid named Lenore Legrand, who haunts the Gothic structure like a phantom. Living with them is Lenore’s devoted older cousin, Trevanion, who shares Raven’s interest in the occult and devotes his days to searching ancient texts for an Elixir of Life that might cure his cousin. Raven finds herself inexorably drawn to both cousins, as well as to the secrets hidden in the shadows of Moldavia Manor.
The Mysterious Press | 9781613168004
THE RIVER RUNS BLACK: A North Country Novel by Tessa Wegert (Mystery/Thriller)
After the recent death of a teenager by overdose, a record drug seizure along the Canadian border is a game changer for New York State’s criminal investigation team. The detectives are relieved that the haul will never make it to the idyllic small-town streets of Alexandria Bay. But drugs are still circulating, and the lab results confirm it: the cocaine that killed the teenager and the cocaine from the bust are not the same. Investigator Tim Wellington and his team seem to be chasing a network of ghosts who use the North Country as their criminal playground. How long will it be until another Thousand Islands youth becomes not just a victim, but a target?
Severn House | 9781448315086
THE RUSH: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World by Nathaniel Philbrick (History)
In January 1848, a carpenter spotted flecks of gold in a shallow stream at Sutter’s Mill in California, triggering the greatest voluntary migration in U.S. history, as hundreds of thousands raced west in pursuit of sudden wealth, reinvention and power. In THE RUSH, Nathaniel Philbrick transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America’s modern contradictions --- capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty --- and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die. This is the story of a nation tearing at the seams and a republic tested by its own ideals.
Viking | 9780525562238
THE SCARLET BALL by Nghi Vo (Historical Fantasy)
Judith Ban, a former convent girl, courtesan and failed thief, is on the lookout for her next identity. But she’s unprepared for the secrets of New York’s legendary Four Hundred, or for the women who build their power at the city’s heart through blood-soaked, gold-etched rituals of demonic marriage. In exchange for enough wealth to outrun her past, Judith strikes a deal with the matriarch of the powerful Howard family: she will stand in for the missing Howard granddaughter, who was poised to make her debut when she disappeared. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith is white, rich, and about to risk body and soul in the deadly games that determine which girls will find a match --- and which will be devoured.
Tor Books | 9781250904966
A SERVING OF HOPE written by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood (Mystery)
Down a Kyoto alleyway, near Higashi Honganji Temple, the Kamogawa Diner attracts lost souls. The father-daughter “food detective” duo of Chef Nagare and Detective Koishi help their clientele who seek meaning in their lives by helping them access lost memories through the food of their past. From the onigiri gifted alongside cherished promises to the ginger pork that became a memory of unrequited love, the not-too-sour chilled noodles from grandma's house, and the macaroni gratin shared by a father and young son for the last time, there is no dish or memory too complex for father and daughter.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9798217045372
SLEEPERS IN THE SNOW by Joanne Harris (Psychological/Supernatural Thriller)
Out on the moor, in the snow, a house stands beneath a pylon. It is a house full of memories and old things. And, in the dark, when the pylon sings in the wind, it is a house full of ghosts and fading memories. The house, Kirkhill, has a new occupant who is fresh from a bitter divorce and looking for a new start. The moor is the perfect place for that. But as the nights start to draw in and the weather takes a turn, so does the house. The cozy isolation becomes menacing, animals begin acting strangely, and it seems someone could be watching the house. And the diaries of the previous owners begin to reveal a terrible tragedy that befell Kirkhill --- and its new occupant may not be able to escape it.
Pegasus Crime | 9798897102020
THIS SHATTERED TEMPEST: A Hurricane Wars Novel by Thea Guanzon (Fantasy/Romance)
Throughout their political marriage, Alaric and Talasyn struggled to resist the undeniable pull between them, even as rising tensions forced them on opposite sides of a looming war. Hand in hand, they vanquished the cataclysmic threat of the Moonless Dark --- and started to hope for a future together. That hope is shattered when a devastating attack sets off a chain of events that tears them apart once more. Now, as two rival nations prepare for a final, decisive clash, the Master of the Shadowforged Legion and the last Lightweaver fight to find their way back to each other. But the odds are stacked against them, and time is running out.
Harper Voyager | 9780063277359
A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD by Annalee Newitz (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Gardenpath is a graduate student. They also happen to be an amoeba --- a slime mold, to be exact --- from an ancient civilization that dwells in the space between the stars. And when they turn their many eyes to researching a remote spot on one spiral arm of the galaxy, they stumble upon a discovery that will change everything they thought they knew: a mysterious planet teeming with unexpected life, language and culture. One of these alien animals is a creature named Murtis, who lives in a city she calls Pompeii and works in a brothel known as “the lupanar.” Before they met, Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and return home to become an acclaimed scientist. But now they're beginning to wonder if there’s more to life than academic achievement.
Tor Books | 9781250228031
WHAT HAPPENS AT NIGHTFALL by Lauren Willig (Paranormal Gothic Romance/Horror)
Recently laid off and searching for purpose, Jess reluctantly joins her best friend on a supposedly fun nighttime cemetery tour. Separated from her group by accident, she discovers a bunch of terrified boys and a strange, ancient key. Both lead to Green-Wood Cemetery’s surprisingly handsome resident arborist, Adam Chervinsky. Still dealing with the loss of their mother, Adam’s children are acting strangely. A haunting is afoot, and Jess seems to know more than she’s letting on. Sparks fly between Jess and Adam --- and the unquiet spirits of Green-Wood rise from their century-long slumber. As Jess and Adam delve deeper into the cemetery’s haunted history, they uncover a Gilded Age curse, a ghostly socialite, and a demonic pact that stretches across generations.
William Morrow | 9780063306172
WHERE THE ROAD ENDS: A Jonathan Stride Novel by Brian Freeman (Mystery/Thriller)
Jonathan Stride's partner, Maggie Bei, is driving home after midnight when a call comes in: shots fired at the home of a Duluth judge. Moments later, she finds Gordon and Tracy Hartwick murdered in their bed. But someone is hiding in the judge's house, and as Maggie lays chase, she's forced to make a split-second decision that leaves the intruder dead. When Stride arrives at the scene, he has to give Maggie devastating news. The intruder had no gun. He wasn't the killer. She shot an innocent man. With Maggie facing a firestorm over her actions, Stride must discover who really killed Gordon and Tracy Hartwick --- and what secrets they were hiding that put them in the gunsights of a murderer.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798228368439
WILL AND ATTENTION: A Memoir by Meghan O’Gieblyn (Memoir)
After leaving evangelical Christianity in her early 20s, kicking an addiction, and building a life as a writer, Meghan O’Gieblyn was admired by her friends for having a strong will. Then, in her late 30s, she began secretly attending Catholic mass and meeting with a priest to discuss conversion. After 11 years of sobriety, she began drinking again. Both returns --- to organized religion and to alcohol --- felt to her like a regression, a personal defeat. Knowledge and determination had proven useless when it came to her most vexing personal battles. In WILL AND ATTENTION, O’Gieblyn captures those perplexing days.
Doubleday | 9780385551571
THE WITCH by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)
When Julia Barlow loses her job and her apartment, she has nowhere left to go but Pemberton, her family's sprawling 17th-century estate in rural Massachusetts. Officially, she's there to check in on her aging grandmother. Unofficially, she's hoping the old house will give her a place to disappear. Instead, Pemberton begins to unravel her. Every night, the grandfather clock stops at exactly 3:41am. The lights flicker without warning. And a disembodied voice cries for help outside Julia's bedroom door. As Julia digs into the house's dark history, she uncovers the story of a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692 --- and realizes the past may not be finished with Pemberton yet.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464249648
On Sale the Week of October 5th in Paperback
October 6th
59 MINUTES by Holly Seddon (Psychological Thriller)
Carrie is on her way home from work on an ordinary evening, looking forward to seeing her family, when her phone blares: SEVERE ALERT. NUCLEAR MISSILE THREAT TO SOUTH ENGLAND. 59 MINUTES UNTIL IMPACT. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A TEST. When Frankie and her fiancé get the terrifying alert, they are on their way to a country retreat. Frankie is blissfully and newly pregnant, but her joy is shattered by the realization that there may be no world to bring her baby into. Mrs. Dabb is already spiraling because her 13-year-old daughter is missing. Panicked, she is on a mission to track her down. Then she hears sirens wailing across the moor. Three women, three families, one last chance to be together before the end. All they have is 59 minutes.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668087701
BEDLAM: An Alexander Gregory Thriller by LJ Ross (Psychological Thriller)
First Publication in the US
Fresh from solving a high-profile case in Paris, elite forensic psychologist and criminal profiler Dr. Alexander Gregory is pulled into another nightmare. The FBI is on the brink of losing its biggest trial yet: the wife of a notorious criminal --- their star witness --- has been committed to a private psychiatric hospital and declared unfit to testify. Without her, their case collapses. Buchanan Hospital is locked down tight, and its formidable staff are as secretive and unpredictable as the patients they treat. With no one left to trust, the FBI has no choice but to turn to Gregory. Now he must enter the hospital and untangle a web of manipulation and murder before the clock runs out. But inside these walls, nothing is what it seems --- and once he uncovers the truth, he may not walk away unchanged.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464273933
BONE VALLEY: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida by Gilbert King (True Crime)
In 1987, Leo Schofield was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Michelle. Always insistent on his innocence, he was poorly served by his legal defense: the investigation was sloppy, the case was flimsy, and numerous pieces of evidence were ignored. He was sentenced to life in prison. Over 30 years later, Gilbert King is tipped off to Leo’s case and is astonished by what he finds: layers of corruption, flawed evidence and deep-seated errors. He can’t shake the story and starts to get to know Leo and his family. Leo shows an incomprehensible amount of grace and love about his situation, which spurs Gilbert even more to tell his story.
Flatiron Books | 9781250368539
BOOM TOWN by Nic Stone (Thriller)
When Damaris “Charm” Wilburn, a new daytime dancer, is missing for her shift at Boom Town, former headliner Michah “Lyriq” Johanssen suspects something more than a “no call, no show.” As Lyriq’s former headline partner and lover --- Felice “Lucky” Carothers --- also vanished under similar circumstances, Lyriq decides she’s going to find them. Delving deeper into Charm and Lucky’s disappearances, Lyriq uncovers a tangled web of deceit, privilege and power. The line between friend and foe blurs, forcing Lyriq to confront the question: Is finding these women worth the threat to her own life?
Simon & Schuster | 9781668056288
THE BOYS IN THE LIGHT: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood by Nina Willner (History)
THE BOYS IN THE LIGHT follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author’s father, as they are caught up on two sides of World War II. At 16, Eddie Willner was among the millions of European Jews rounded up by Hitler’s Nazis. He was forced into slave labor alongside his father and his best friend, Mike, and spent the next three years of his life surviving the death camps. Meanwhile, in the United States, boys only a few years older than Eddie were joining the army and heading toward their own precarious futures. A company of 3rd Armored Division tankers, led by 23-year-old Elmer Hovland, quickly became battle-hardened and weary, constantly questioning whether the war was worth it. They got their answer when two emaciated boys stepped out of the woods with their tattooed arms raised.
Dutton | 9780593471296
COZY LITTLE CHRISTMAS by RaeAnne Thayne (Romance)
Paperback Original
Hannah has built a full life for herself in the warmth of her close-knit town, with her family, her work and her music. And when her dear friend, Morgan, desperately needs her help, Hannah temporarily steps in to care for Morgan’s children. That’s what friends do --- especially at the holidays. But she never expected to run into Wes Kenner. Moving back home is the last thing that K9 law enforcement officer Wes Kenner ever wanted. It’s where he fell in love with Hannah --- and where an accident changed his mother’s life forever. But when his grandfather needs a helping hand, he can’t say no. It’s the perfect opportunity for him and his beloved K9, Kodiak, to recover. Still, seeing Hannah again fills him with regret --- and hope.
Mira | 9781335013217
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 the Bird Street community enjoys the rest of the year. A sacrifice must be made. So it has been for more than 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 enter the void with dignity. But this year, things don’t go according to plan, and events take a terrifying turn.
Harper Perennial | 9780063472525
THE DEVIL’S BIBLE: A Cotton Malone Novel by Steve Berry (Thriller)
Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone is called to Sweden when the younger sister of King Wilhelm I is kidnapped. The ransom demand? Hand over an 800-year-old book, the Codex Gigas --- the largest illuminated medieval manuscript in the world. Claimed as war loot from Bohemia in 1648, it’s been kept in Stockholm for nearly 400 years. Along the way, it also acquired another more mysterious moniker: The Devil’s Bible. Now the Czech Republic wants the codex back, and Sweden has agreed to return it, but forces are at work to stop that deal from happening. The likely instigator? Russia. Which is also at the top of the list for possible kidnappers. It’s up to Cotton and Cassiopeia Vitt to locate the king’s sister, secure the codex and thwart the Russians. Yet nothing is as it seems.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538770627
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN DRESS: A Mystery Featuring Zelda Fitzgerald by Mariah Fredericks (Historical Mystery)
New York, 1920. Although she’s newly married to the hottest writer in America, Zelda Fitzgerald is at loose ends while Scott works on his next novel, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED. Meanwhile, Atlanta journalist Morris Markey has arrived in New York and is lost in every way possible. Recently returned from the war and without connections, he hovers at the edge of the city’s revels, unable to hear the secrets that might give him his first big story. When notorious man-about-town Joseph Elwell is found shot through the head, the fortunes of the two southerners collide when they realize they were both among the last to see him alive. Zelda encountered Elwell at the scandalous Midnight Frolic revue on the night of his death, and Markey saw him just hours before with a ravishing mystery woman dressed in green. Markey has his story. Zelda has her next adventure.
Minotaur Books | 9781250367532
THE HAUNTING OF PAYNES HOLLOW by Kelley Armstrong (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in 14 years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted that her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body. But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact that she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather's words. When her aunt goes missing a couple of days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250360588
HEAR THE DEAD by Ann Dávila Cardinal (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
For more than 40 years, Elena Altieri has been hiding from the tragedies of her New York City punk rock youth. Tragedies that left her best friend, Sin, dead, and other women in their orbit missing. Now, the past is catching up with her in more ways than one. Not only is she hearing strange noises under the hum of her tinnitus, but the photographs she took of a recently deceased musician are going viral. When Elena begins to hear the screams of a woman ringing in her ears, she becomes convinced that she's somehow hearing Sin's murder. What she'll uncover not only will force her to reckon with her own fractured memories, but might prove that Sin and other innocent women from their youth were the victims of an unspeakable crime that only she can solve.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464245862
THE LADY ON ESPLANADE: A Royal Street Novel by Karen White (Mystery)
Nola Trenholm is eager to launch a new murder-house-flipping business with contractor, closet psychic and part-time nemesis Beau Ryan. After a near-death ghostly encounter and the return of Beau’s missing sister, they are confident that the ghost of his mother can finally rest. Nola believes the shotgun house on famed Esplanade Avenue is a prime fixer-upper for her first project. It may have been the site of a woman’s murder and the disappearance of an entire family, but the house will be perfect for new-to-town Cooper Ravenel --- who happens to have caused Nola’s first heartbreak. In addition to the elusive spirit of an angry young woman who accompanied Cooper to New Orleans, the house on Esplanade has its own ghosts, including one that is becoming increasingly dangerous as he tries to hide his dark secrets.
Berkley | 9780593549513
LIFE, AND DEATH, AND GIANTS by Ron Rindo (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Gabriel Fisher was born an orphan, weighing 18 pounds and measuring 27 inches long. No one in Lakota, Wisconsin, knows what to make of him. He walks at eight months, communicates with animals, and seems to possess extraordinary athletic talent. But when the older brother who has been caring for him dies, Gabriel is taken in by his devout Amish grandparents who disapprove of all the attention and hide him away from the English world. But it’s hard to hide forever when you’re nearly eight feet tall. At 17, Gabriel is spotted working in a hay field by the local football coach. What happens next transforms not only Gabriel’s life but the lives of everyone he meets.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250455918
THE MEMORY OF BORROWED BOOKS by Meg Anderson (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
In the coastal town of Foxhollow Bay, librarian Claire Ashford keeps her life as meticulously ordered as the centuries-old library she calls home. But when the town announces plans to shut it down, her sanctuary --- and the life she's built within its walls --- begins to crumble. One night, while wandering the stacks after hours, Claire discovers a door that shouldn't exist. And behind it lies a secret room filled with books no one else can see. Each book pulls her into the memories of those who have passed through the library's doors --- moments half-lived and stories left unfinished. Buried within these pages is a message the library has been trying to share, urging Claire to uncover the path to saving it. With the demolition looming, Claire must piece together what the library is trying to show her.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464278372
MOTHERS written by Brenda Lozano, translated by Heather Cleary (Fiction)
When the kidnapping of a little girl shocks the Mexican capital, the lives of two very different women become forever intertwined. Gloria Felipe lives a comfortable upper-class life with her husband and five children. Nuria Valencia comes from a working-class background and has been desperately trying to get pregnant in order to save her marriage. After traditional methods produce no results, she subjects herself to horrific fertility treatments designed and administered by men, and ultimately tries to adopt but is rejected on the basis that a woman in her early 30s is too old to adopt a baby. Failed time and again by the system and about to lose hope, she is presented with an opportunity that seems almost too good to be true.
Catapult | 9781646223589
MY BELOVED: A Mitford Novel by Jan Karon (Fiction)
When Father Tim’s wife, Cynthia, asks what he wants for Christmas, he pens the answer in a love letter that bares his most private feelings. Then the letter goes missing and circulates among his astonished neighbors. So much for private. Can a letter change a life? Ask Helene, the piano teacher who has avoided her feelings for a lifetime. Ask Hope, the village bookseller who desperately needs something that’s impossibly out of reach. Or, if you’d like to know how a brush with death can be the portal to a happy marriage, Cynthia will tell you all about it. In MY BELOVED, Harley gets an important letter of his own; a broken heart teaches the Old Mayor, Esther Cunningham, a lesson that’s been a long time coming; and thanks to Lace and Dooley, readers get what they’ve been waiting for: Sadie.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9798217047192
NEXT OF KIN: A Memoir by Gabrielle Hamilton (Memoir)
Gabrielle Hamilton took pride in her unsentimental, idiosyncratic family. She grew up to find enormous success, first as a chef and then as the author of award-winning, bestselling books. But her family ties frayed in ways both seismic and mundane until eventually she was estranged from them all. In the wake of one brother’s sudden death and another’s suicide, Hamilton was compelled to examine the sprawling, complicated root system underlying her losses. She began investigating her family’s devout independence and individualism with a nearly forensic rigor, soon discovering a sobering warning in their long-held self-satisfaction. By the time she was called to care for her declining mother, Hamilton had realized a certain freedom, one made possible only through a careful psychological autopsy of her family.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780399590115
PALAVER by Bryan Washington (Fiction)
In Tokyo, the son works as an English tutor and drinks his nights away with friends at a gay bar. He’s entangled in a sexual relationship with a married man, and while he has built a chosen family in Japan, he is estranged from his mother in Houston, whose preference for the son’s oft-troubled homophobic brother, Chris, pushed him to leave home. Then, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, 10 years since they last saw each other, the mother arrives uninvited on his doorstep. With only the son’s cat, Taro, to mediate, the two of them bristle at each other immediately. The mother, wrestling with memories of her youth in Jamaica and her own complicated brother, works to reconcile her good intentions with her missteps. The son struggles to forgive. But as life steers them in unexpected directions, they begin to see each other more clearly.
Picador | 9781250448248
REVENGE PREY: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford (Mystery/Thriller)
A former high-ranking Russian intelligence officer who defected to the U.S. after providing critical information about Russian spies in U.S. government service, Leonard Summers and his wife and son have spent the past year holed up in a CIA facility near Washington. After the CIA makes a deal with the U.S. Marshal Service’s Witness Protection Program (WPP), Leonard’s family is transported to Minneapolis. The plan is to hide them in a wooded Minneapolis suburb that resembles their former home and dacha near Moscow. The Summers are received at their destination by Lucas Davenport and fellow marshal Shelly White. Unbeknownst to them, the WPP group has been tracked by a Russian hit team. As shots are fired and enemies dodged, Lucas must move quickly to uncover where the leak is coming from before the hit team can strike again.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593852088
SHADOW TICKET by Thomas Pynchon (Historical Fiction)
Milwaukee, 1932. The Great Depression is going full blast, the repeal of Prohibition is just around the corner, Al Capone is in the federal pen, and the private investigation business shifts from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case: locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, eventually ending up in Hungary. By the time Hicks catches up with the runaway heiress, he will find himself entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them.
Penguin Books | 9780593298039
WHEN YOU TELL by Steena Holmes (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Bree Wagner has spent her life behind the scenes --- as a ghostwriter, an aunt, and a woman scarred by tragedy. When her former best friend Miranda, now the wildly popular lifestyle influencer Randi F. Alexander, begs for help with her next book, Bree reluctantly agrees. It’s a chance to reconnect after 18 years of silence following a devastating accident in Amsterdam. But just as Bree steps back into Randi’s world, a viral misstep sends the influencer’s career into a tailspin. While Bree tries to steer clear of the spotlight and the toxic whirlwind of cancel culture, old secrets begin to surface --- ones that make her question everything she thought she knew about Miranda and their shared past.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096541
WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER YOU by Patricia Lockwood (Fiction/Humor)
Amid a global pandemic, one young woman is trying to keep the pieces together --- of her family, stunned by a devastating loss, and of her mind, left mangled and misfiring from a mystifying disease. She’s afraid of her own floorboards, and “WHAT IS LOVE? BABY DON’T HURT ME” plays over and over in her ears. She hates her friends, or more accurately, she doesn’t know who they are. Has the illness stolen her old mind and given her a new one? Does it mean she’ll get to start over from scratch, a chance afforded to very few people? The very weave of herself seems to have loosened: time and memories pass straight through her body. “I’m sorry not to respond to your email,” she writes, “but I live completely in the present now."
Riverhead Books | 9780593718568
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