October 27, 2026

October 27, 2026

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 26th and November 2nd 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, November 6th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win MISS WOLCOTT'S GHOST, the 21st installment in Louise Penny's mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, and PECK & PECK, the new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, Bonnie Garmus.

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This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest
Win a Copy of MISS WOLCOTT'S GHOST by Louise Penny
and PECK & PECK by Bonnie Garmus

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

On Sale the Week of October 26th in Hardcover

October 27th

ABANDONING A CAT: A Personal Story written by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel (Essay)
Originally published in The New Yorker in 2019, and now presented in a full, unabridged form, ABANDONING A CAT is a poignant, self-reflective work by Haruki Murakami. Here he writes about his father, the son of a priest who might have become a priest himself had a clerical error not sent him into the Second World War. Murakami's father wrote accomplished haiku and eventually became a teacher. As Murakami grew older, as he became an adult and then a writer, he and his father found they had little in common. They were later estranged for 20 years, only reconciling on his father's deathbed.
Knopf | 9798217208692 

ADVANTAGE PLAYER: A Memoir of Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings by Gina Fiore (Memoir)
From an early age, Gina Fiore wanted to win. Her desire was borne from her family’s financial instability --- countless evictions, living in a motel, learning to stave off debt collectors with a tightly rehearsed script dictated by her parents. After Gina dropped out of college, her mother taught her how to deal blackjack, and she got her first job dealing in a Las Vegas casino. It was there that she discovered some players win using skill and not luck. She wanted to learn how. ADVANTAGE PLAYER follows Gina’s journey to becoming one of the best advantage players in the world, beating casinos out of millions by playing the games they offered better than they did.
Gillian Flynn Books | 9781638933625 

THE BRIGHTNESS by Chad Harbach (Fiction)
At 27, Pella’s life looks settled. She’s a recent college grad; engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Mike; and helping her friend, Owen, pull off his own destination wedding on Block Island. But over that wild wedding weekend, Pella’s past and present collide spectacularly, blowing up her plans and sending her spiraling toward an unplanned future in New York City. Meanwhile, back at Westish College, 21-year-old Irma’s involvement with a politically charged prank --- one that has roiled both the campus and the world beyond --- threatens to derail her brilliant future. As Irma and Pella cycle through possibilities and identities, both navigate the heights and depths of passion and ambition, and the incalculable wages of love and loss.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316455695

A COURT OF SPLINTERED HARMONY: The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I by Sarah J. Maas (Fantasy/Romance)
Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he's been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands. The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day. To make matters worse, those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable. But to defeat Koschei's creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639739134 

DARK COUNTRY by Adam Plantinga (Thriller)
After the bloodshed in Fenton, Arizona, former Detroit cop Kurt Argento had to disappear. He reemerges in the small town of Barton, South Dakota, working under an assumed name as a church handyman. But then he meets 17-year-old Majed, a Syrian refugee trying to build a life in Barton with his single mother. Two men with hard eyes are close behind. Argento steps in, and Majed’s pursuers retreat with a thin excuse about a stolen wallet. It turns out that Majed isn’t just in trouble --- he’s a target. And the hunters are closing in. To safeguard Majed, Argento hits the road with the boy, pushing west. And along the way it becomes clear that whatever Majed knows --- or carries --- someone powerful wants it and will kill to get it.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538778869 

FIND ME NOWHERE: A Cameron Winter Mystery by Andrew Klavan (Hard-boiled Mystery)
In the wilderness bordering Afghanistan, an American soldier dies in a devastating explosion. Across the world, in a withering Pennsylvania factory town, his father is stabbed to death and left in the surrounding woods amidst colonial ruins known as Nowhere. The Recruiter wants Cameron Winter to find out why. Winter journeys into America’s aching heartland, to a small town called Kinnecombe, which is left to suffer through a triple plague of poverty, drugs and crime. His assignment is to solve a murder, and all that stands in his way is a deceptively soft-spoken gangster, a mob of local thugs, an American spy as crazy as she is beautiful, and a well-trained killer who can make himself invisible right up until the moment he puts a bullet in your brain.
The Mysterious Press | 9781613168257 

FRANK CAPRA: A Life by Sam Wasson (Biography)
Frank Capra --- the director of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night and, supremely, It’s a Wonderful Life --- remains one of the great chroniclers of the American heart, how we love, lead, dream, hope and fight for our individuality. But Capra was a more complex artist than is usually reckoned and a more complicated man than anyone knows. This extraordinary book, making full use for the first time of Capra’s own archives, including deeply personal writings from his later years, has brought this seminal artist into urgent life. At the same time, it offers a dazzling portrait of both a lost America and an enduring one.
Harper | 9780063291133 

THE HOLLOW: A Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
When Harry Bosch was 11 years old, his mother was murdered. He became a ward of the state, housed in MacLaren Children’s Center, a notorious facility where abuse was rampant. Decades after its closure, a lawsuit has resulted in a massive settlement for former residents. But when Bosch’s half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, brings him word that he is entitled to part of it, Bosch says he doesn’t want the money. He wants justice. The news awakens Bosch’s memories of a place he had hoped never to revisit, and of a boy nicknamed Chops, a fellow ward who wound up dead. Bosch is certain that Chops was killed in a hidden space under the stairs --- the kids knew it as “the hollow” --- and his murder covered up. Now he is determined to reopen the investigation and learn the truth.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316563857 

PUBLIC ACCESS AFTERWORLD by Jane Schoenbrun (Speculative Thriller/Horror)
On September 3, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger. On June 12, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely suburban teens, gather in Erin's basement to watch TV's analog-to-digital transition. But Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld, and their lives are changed forever. Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. Then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld. But what is Public Access Afterworld?
Hogarth | 9780593978382

SAVAGE LAKE by Nick Medina (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
The passing of her estranged father leaves Nell Marin with no choice but to take her teenage son, Oscar, back to the run-down family cabin on Torchlight Lake, where horrific memories linger. The two will fix the place up, sell it, and ensure Nell never has to return to that dreaded lake again. But when the roads --- which pass through Native land --- are barricaded by the local Tribe, the quick trip turns into weeks. Oscar, a horror movie buff, knows this is exactly how it starts. As the long summer days drag on, unsettling things begin to occur. Most disturbing of all, his mother is becoming less and less herself. As the strange events lead Oscar to uncover the secrets Nell has shielded him from, he is forced to confront a reality that is far more frightening than movie monsters.
Berkley | 9780593952177 

THE SEVENTH RIBBON by Gus Krieger (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Alone in her snowbound oceanfront cottage, Caroline Ora mourns the loss of her beloved husband Forest, killed earlier that year in a violent hit-and-run. Once a celebrated poet, Caroline now spends her days drowning in grief…until an unlikely discovery changes everything. Buried deep in her attic in a dusty wooden case, Caroline finds several ancient typewriter ribbons. Spontaneously using one to write a story --- a simple “what if” wherein her anguish has loosened its grip --- Caroline wakes to find it’s miraculously come true. Moment by moment, word by word, Caroline sets about rewriting her life, resurrecting her husband through ink and memories. But as the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur, Caroline learns that every wish has its cost, and every miracle has its reckoning.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538780824 

On Sale the Week of October 26th in Paperback

October 27th

AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Mystery)
It’s Christmas time in Millers Kill, and Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband, Russ van Alstyne --- newly resigned from his position as chief of police --- plan to enjoy it with their baby boy. But when a beloved holiday parade is crashed by white supremacists, Clare and Russ find themselves sucked into a parallel world of militias, machinations and murder. They and three others --- single mom and officer Hadley Knox; novice lawyer Joy Zhào; and NYS Forest Ranger Paul Terrance --- will discover that their suspicions hang on a single twisting thread, leading to the forbidding High Peaks of the Adirondacks. As the December days shorten and the nights grow long, a disparate group of would-be heroes need to unwind a murderous plot before time runs out.
Minotaur Books | 9780312606893

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER by Sarah Morgan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
As the snowstorm of the century bears down on New England, reclusive author Mabel Miller is preparing to spend yet another Christmas alone with her cats. That is, until the weather intervenes and sends not one but two cars spinning into the stone wall surrounding her isolated cottage. Now she has a house full of strangers when the last thing she wanted was company for Christmas. Yet Mabel’s unexpected guests --- a family with two young children expecting Santa to drop gifts down the chimney, and two work colleagues who clearly have a history --- are determined to make the best of the situation. As her attempts to protect her privacy are thwarted by the two little ones, soon Mabel is allowing them into her library, a place that contains so many of her secrets.
Mira | 9781335015075

THE BURNING LIBRARY by Gilly Macmillan (Psychological Thriller)
On a frigid, windswept day in Scotland’s Western Hebrides, Eleanor Bruton’s body is discovered on the shore. Little did Eleanor’s family know that she was harboring a dark and all-consuming secret --- a scrap of fraying embroidery that seems worthless at first glance. For over a century, two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn. When Dr. Anya Brown garners international attention for her translation of the cryptic Folio 9, she is handpicked by Diana Cornish, a professor and high-ranking member of the Fellowship, to join the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies in St. Andrews. Unbeknownst to Anya, she’s been recruited at great personal danger to translate ancient texts that the Fellowship believes critical to their mission.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063422933

CURSED DAUGHTERS by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Fiction)
When Ebun gives birth to her daughter, Eniiyi, on the day they bury her cousin, Monife, there is no denying the startling resemblance between the child and the dead woman. So begins the belief, fanned by the entire family, that Eniiyi is the actual reincarnation of Monife, fated to follow in her footsteps. There is also the matter of the family curse --- “No man will call your house home. And if they try, they will not have peace...” --- which has broken numerous hearts and caused three generations of abandoned Falodun women to live under the same roof. When Eniiyi falls in love, she no longer can run from her family’s history. Is she destined to live out her family's story of love and heartache? Or can she break the pattern?
Vintage | 9780385551496

DEAD AND ALIVE: Essays by Zadie Smith (Essays)
In DEAD AND ALIVE, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects that have captured her attention in recent years. She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker and Celia Paul. She invites us along to the movies, to see and to think about Tár, and to New York to reflect on the spontaneous moments that connect us. She takes us on a walk down Kilburn High Road in her beloved North West London and welcomes us to mourn with her the passing of writers Joan Didion, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. She considers changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic --- and the meaning of "the commons" in all our lives.
Penguin Books | 9780593834701

THE DEVIL IS A SOUTHPAW by Brandon Hobson (Fiction)
Milton Muleborn has envied Matthew Echota, a talented Cherokee artist, ever since they were locked up together in a dangerous juvenile detention center in the late 1980s. Until Matthew escaped, that is. A novel within a novel, we read here Milton’s dark, sometimes comic and possibly unreliable account of the story of their childhood even as, years later, he remains jealous of Matthew’s extraordinary abilities and unlikely success. Milton reveals secrets about their friendship, their families, and their nightmarish, surreal experience of imprisonment. In revisiting the past, he explores the echoing traumas of incarceration and pride.
Ecco | 9780063259645

THE DEVIL’S DAUGHTER by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Graduating magna cum laude from MIT is the happiest day of Billie Banks’ life, although her family is not part of it. Her mother, who always supported her, died when Billie was 17. Since then, her father has been slowly drinking himself to death on the family farm in Iowa, and she and her younger sister, Mickie, have grown even more estranged. Despite Billie’s attempts to look after Mickie following their mother’s death, her sister consistently treated her with cruelty. So when Mickie invites Billie to move in with her in Los Angeles, Billie is both wary and hopeful. Taking a leap of faith, she joins her sister on the West Coast. While Mickie lands a questionable modeling job and falls in with a fast crowd, Billie begins working at a pathology lab and starts dating a warm, supportive reporter at the Los Angeles Times. But then the siblings’ difficult history once again rises to the surface.
Dell | 9780593498873

FALLING FOR A VILLAINOUS VAMPIRE by Charlotte Stein (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Marley Maples is sure she's finally evaded her vampire mortal enemy. Halsten has stalked her across oceans of time and many, many lives. But now she's arrived at the age of 30 in Hollow Brook with no sign of him. So she’s devastated when he suddenly shows and yet again tries to make her life hell. Until her two witchy best friends suggest a spell to make him forget all about her. There’s just one issue: he forgets his whole existence with it. And all he sees when he looks at Marley is his beloved little witch, his savior, the light of his life. He goes from being a horror that haunts her nightmares to a man who loves her and will protect her at all costs. And as much as she’s skeptical, she can’t help finding his fish-out-of-water, warrior ways and his desire to defend her endearing.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250352378

FOX AND FURIOUS by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery)
It’s hunting season in the foothills of Virginia, and “Sister” Jane Arnold is content to spend it alongside her friends, particularly one Olivia Bradford. Olivia is a formidable figure in town --- not least because she keeps the peace between her sons, Winston and Andrew --- but when she passes away, the brothers return to their squabbling ways. Faced with contention over their inheritance, tensions escalate, and the two get into a fierce fight --- and soon after, one of them turns up dead. All eyes turn to the surviving brother. But Sister can’t fathom that he’s capable of murder, and soon suspects begin to reveal themselves left and right. The more she learns, the more Sister begins to doubt the people she’s hunted with for decades.
Bantam | 9780593874134

THE GIRL IN THE LAKE: A Holmes, Margaret & Poe Mystery by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
At a frozen lakeside crime scene, a corpse carries an accusatory note: “If anything happens to me, arrest Brendan Holmes.” Mysteries trail Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and Auguste Poe wherever they go. At a remote lodge in upstate New York, the embattled private investigators have taken refuge from the assailant who bombed their sleek city headquarters. When the discovery of a body in the lake puts the detectives back in the headlines and under suspicion, the elusive killer issues his despicable orders: stop solving crimes --- and start committing them.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316600019

THE GREAT CONTRADICTION: The Tragic Side of the American Founding by Joseph J. Ellis (History)
On the eve of the American Revolution, half a million enslaved African Americans were embedded in the North American population. The slave trade was flourishing, even as the 13 colonies armed themselves to defend against the idea of being governed without consent. This paradox gave birth to what Joseph J. Ellis calls the “great contradiction”: How could a government that had been justified and founded on the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence institutionalize slavery? How could it permit a tidal wave of western migration by settlers who understood the phrase “pursuit of happiness” to mean the pursuit of Indian lands? In THE GREAT CONTRADICTION, Ellis addresses the questions that lie at America’s twisted roots.
Vintage | 9780593687024

THE GUN MAN JACKSON SWAGGER by Stephen Hunter (Historical Thriller/Western)
In the frying pan of a drought-scorched 1890s Southwest, an old man shows up at the region’s only prosperous spread, the Callahan ranch, seeking work. Jack is flinty, shrewd, tough, and a natural with a gun. As an incentive to be taken on at his age, he shows the foreman an uncanny skill with one of Mr. Winchester’s latest models. He knows a sharpshooter would be valuable to Colonel Callahan and head gunman Tom Voth. But he has his own mission. Aware that a young cowboy on the ranch has died mysteriously, Jack begins to investigate. He soon realizes that the death and the source of the Callahan wealth are dangerously entwined and that many of the dark forces of the American West are at play on the ranch. Soon enough, it’s the season of the six-gun and its fastest shootist.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668030400

THE HEART OF WINTER by Jonathan Evison (Fiction)
Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke were never meant to be together --- at least if you ask Ruth. Yet their catastrophic blind date in college evolved into a 70-year marriage and a life on a farm on Bainbridge Island with their hens and beloved Labrador, Megs. Through the years, the Winters have fallen in and out of lockstep, and from their haunting losses and guarded secrets, a dependable partnership has been forged. But when Ruth’s loose tooth turns out to be something much more malicious, the beautiful, reliable life they’ve created together comes to a crisis. As Ruth struggles with her crumbling independence, Abe must learn how to take care of her while their three living children question his ability to look after his wife. And once again, the couple has to reconfigure how to be there for each other.
Dutton | 9780593473559

JOYRIDE: A Memoir by Susan Orlean (Memoir)
JOYRIDE is a magic carpet ride through Susan Orlean’s life and career, where every day is an opportunity for discovery and every moment holds the potential for wonder. Throughout her storied career, Orlean’s curiosity draws her to explore the most ordinary and extraordinary of places, from going deep inside the head of a regular 10-year-old boy for a legendary profile (“The American Man Age Ten”) to reporting on a woman who owns 27 tigers, from capturing the routine magic of Saturday night to climbing Mt. Fuji. Orlean takes us through her process of dreaming up ideas, managing deadlines, connecting with sources, chasing every possible lead, confronting writer’s block and self-doubt, and crafting the perfect lede --- a Susan specialty.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982135171

LINCOLN’S GHOST: Houdini's War on Spiritualism and the Dark Conspiracy Against the American Presidency by Brad Ricca (History)
During a séance in 1924, Harry Houdini --- the greatest entertainer in the world --- was cursed by a vengeful spirit, who said his days were numbered. Houdini laughed. He believed talking to the dead was impossible. By 1926, Houdini was dead. This is the untold story of the last performance of Harry Houdini, who --- inspired by his hero, Abraham Lincoln --- devotes himself full-time to a personal crusade against Spiritualism, the practice of speaking to the dead. In a spellbinding journey across Jazz Age America, haunted by the aftermath of the Great War and a deadly pandemic, Houdini encounters modern-day haunted houses, warlocks and monsters, and uncovers a shocking conspiracy that stretches all the way to the American presidency --- and to the House of Houdini itself.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250338921

MAKE IT OUT ALIVE: A Quinn & Costa Thriller by Allison Brennan (Mystery/Thriller)
Three newlywed couples have disappeared from an exclusive resort in Florida, only to turn up dead soon after. It’s up to the FBI Mobile Response Team to catch a serial killer before anyone else ends up dead. And they have the perfect bait --- Detective Kara Quinn, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the targeted women. Undercover as newlyweds pretending to enjoy their honeymoon, Kara and FBI Agent Matt Costa set a flawless trap. When their plan works and they arrest the predator, Matt sends the rest of the team home. But on Monday morning, the couple doesn’t show up to work, and the MRT learns they never checked out of their hotel. As their team tries to find them, Matt and Kara learn the truth --- the killer wasn’t acting alone. He had a partner who succeeded where he failed. Kidnapped and forced into a twisted escape room, they need to find a way out.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335001801

OLD SCHOOL INDIAN by Aaron John Curtis (Fiction)
Abe Jacobs is Kanien’kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne --- or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At 18, Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now at 43, he is suffering from a rare disease --- one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a marriage teetering on collapse, Abe returns to the Rez, where he’s persuaded to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But Budge --- a wry, recovered alcoholic prone to wearing punk T-shirts --- isn’t all that convincing. And Abe’s time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic. To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he’s hidden ever since he left home and wrestling with the imprint left by his once-passionate marriage.
Tin House | 9781638934189

THE PICASSO HEIST by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Thriller)
A $100 million painting. A previously unknown Picasso is discovered in the attic of a French villa. Everyone wants to possess it. Only one person knows how to take it. THE PICASSO HEIST is a thriller that scales astonishing heights when a newcomer to the Manhattan art world executes a grand theft.
Little, Brown and Company | 9781538758458

RACE AGAINST TERROR: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War by Jake Tapper (True Crime)
June 2011: The case has been cold for nearly 10 years when a terrorist fleeing the Arab Spring turns himself in and confesses to killing American soldiers in Afghanistan. This brazen act sets off an unlikely chain of events that puts the entirety of the American justice system to the test. They have the killer but no evidence to prove the murders happened. Determined to deliver justice, a team led by federal prosecutors Dave Bitkower and Shreve Ariail must traverse the globe, uncovering facts across thousands of miles and tracing shocking plots of terror in order to prevent tragedy from striking again. RACE AGAINST TERROR shows a man radicalized to enact violence, courageous soldiers who risked their lives for each other, and the diverse set of men and women who work tirelessly to stay one step ahead of disaster.
Atria Books | 9781668079454

SACRAMENT by Susan Straight (Fiction)
In August 2020, a group of nurses are working in the ICU at a hospital in San Bernardino at the height of a COVID surge: Larette Embers, whose husband, Grief, is an animal control officer; Cherrise Martinez, whose husband died years ago in a car crash, and whose daughter, Raquel, has been sent to a Coachella date farm to live with her great-aunt to avoid the virus; and Marisol Manalang, born in the Philippines but based in Sacramento. As the nurses struggle with the skyrocketing number of sick patients, Cherisse's daughter goes missing. Grief's friend Johnny Frias, a California Highway Patrol officer, joins the search to find her. The resulting journey leads to new love and loss, pushing all our characters to their breaking points.
Counterpoint | 9781640098015

THE TIN MEN by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille (Thriller)
Army CID Special Agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor team up for their toughest assignment yet as they are dispatched to Camp Hayden to investigate the death of Major Roger Ames, the chief scientist in charge of the top-secret war games being conducted between a platoon of Army Rangers and a fleet of “lethal autonomous weapons.” Brodie and Taylor must untangle the complex web of alliances, animosities and secret agendas among the men and women of the isolated facility. In a place cut off from the world and exposed to the harsh desert elements, everyone is a suspect. Brodie and Taylor must uncover layers of deception to find the hidden hand behind the murder of Major Ames, and the real purpose of the activities at Camp Hayden and its terrifying arsenal of next-generation weapons.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668062012

UPSTATE by Kim van Alkemade (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Thirty-four-year-old writer Audrey Beacon is grieving alone during lockdown when a post about a bookshop for sale in upstate New York pops into her social media feed like a lifeline. Audrey impulsively cashes out her savings, loads her possessions into her dead husband’s van, and flees Manhattan for the village of Schuywich. While reviving the shop, Audrey discovers letters from the 1950s between the previous owner, magazine writer Evelyn Cabot, and a local librarian, Hazel McIntyre. It was love at first sight when the pair met at a summer camp in Maine that discreetly promises a “different vacation for professional women.” But the letters abruptly end in 2015 when they're forced to abandon the bookshop. Will Audrey find the courage to heal the wounds of the past --- including her own?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063438033

On Sale the Week of November 2nd in Hardcover

November 3rd

COLD BLADE: A Nils Shapiro Novel by Matt Goldman (Mystery)
Wealthy businessman Jonathan Willetts wants private investigator Nils Shapiro to prove that his wife, Paige, didn’t murder one of his employees, Lukas Day. Everything points to Paige’s guilt: she had an encounter with Lukas the night he died, and her fingerprints are on the knife found at the scene. As far as the Minnesota Police Department is concerned, it’s an open-and-shut case. Nils isn’t so sure. After all, Jonathan and Paige have plenty of enemies. Is Paige being set up by a calculating killer? Deception, theft and stunning secrets convince Nils that there’s more to this case than meets the eye. But can he uncover the chilling truth?
Severn House | 9781448317950

COLD SUNSET: A Gabriel Dax Novel by William Boyd (Historical Thriller)
It is 1964, and Cold War Moscow is smoldering with secrets. Travel writer-turned-spy Gabriel Dax has been tasked with delivering a mysterious Blanco drawing to Kit Caldwell, the triple-agent and celebrated “defector” now leading the well-heeled life of a Hero of the Soviet Union. But Caldwell is convinced that the KGB suspects him of treachery. He wants Gabriel to do the impossible and smuggle him over the Russian border to Finland. When Gabriel is ordered to help by his enigmatic handler, Faith Green, he is pulled into a web of shifting loyalties and dangerous escape plans. As tensions rise and trust fractures, he is forced to confront the fine line between devotion and deception.
Atlantic Crime | 9780802168313

DESIRE FEEDS THE FEAST: A Memoir by Tarajia Morrell (Memoir)
Born to one of New York’s most celebrated wine families, Tarajia Morrell grew up at the table, where conversation was wine-soaked and food was the love language. In DESIRE FEEDS THE FEAST, the James Beard Award-winning writer traces a life shaped by hunger --- for beauty, for love, for pleasure and for belonging. From the electric excess of the late-’90s New York City club scene to Hollywood tables where she served celebrities, Tarajia moved through the world restless but hopeful, unsure of what would come next. Wherever she found herself, the pleasures of food guided her. Through deep heartbreak and loss, it was food that kept her tethered and whispered of who she was.
Zibby Publishing | 9798994220610 

THE GIFT: A Short Story by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)
Despite working two jobs, Stella can't even afford a present for her husband on their first Christmas together. It was supposed to be a magical holiday, but instead it's a reminder of how much she can't provide. Then a mysterious pawn shop owner offers Stella an intriguing trade. She wants more than anything to buy her husband the perfect gift. But there's a catch, and it may come at a terrible price.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781628863925 

A GLACIER'S GUIDE TO DYING by Michelle Porter (Fiction)
Robbie has spent most of his life wondering about his real father, Mike, who long since left their family due to his struggles with visions and mistrust of the modern world. As he rescues his mother from encroaching wildfires, he's determined to also find his father. Robbie takes off to find answers. When his uncle confesses that he last dropped Mike off at a glacier, they climb up the mountain of ice to see if Mike might still be there and if he's still alive. On the slopes of a huge glacier, Robbie starts hearing the ancient voice of the glacier itself giving him guidance. Has he accessed a deep connection to the land, or is he succumbing to the same illness that had wreaked havoc on his father's life? 
Algonquin Books | 9781523538003

HAVE COURAGE: Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson (Mystery/Short Stories)
Walt Longmire, the sheriff of Absaroka County, investigates a series of eccentric small-town crises in 15 holiday-inspired stories. An old dog mysteriously escapes the animal shelter night after night. A deputy deploys an unexpected diversion during a hostage standoff. The baby Jesus vanishes from a nativity scene. And Walt faces one of his most challenging assignments yet: caring for a 150-year-old sourdough starter, while apprehending a seven-year-old suspect with the diction of a 1930s gumshoe.
Viking | 9798217379484 

THE HEIGHTS by Ian Rankin (Thriller)
Facing Hyde Park, The Heights is London’s most coveted luxury high-rise apartment. It is where self-made owner-developer Allan Franklyn has claimed the penthouse duplex. His neighbors include some of “Money London’s” biggest personalities: a wealthy art dealer, a young heartthrob pop star, a foreign heiress, a gangster’s wife. The residents are used to service, deference and privacy, all on their terms. But when nighttime concierge Dwayne Hogarth is found dead in the lobby, none of that is in their control anymore, and everyone is under the unwelcome scrutiny of Detective Sergeant Gillian Gish. Before long, Gish uncovers the unsavory truths and dark secrets that lurk beneath the glittering facades of the building and its inhabitants.
Cardinal | 9781538776100 

IS IT TOO LATE TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT? by Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea (Memoir)
From growing up in York and being miffed at not getting the part of Mary in the school Nativity play, to playing before sold-out houses on Broadway and in London’s West End, Judi Dench has done it all. She walked the red carpets of Hollywood; turned James Bond’s M into the most astute, unflinching Head of MI6 anyone ever could have imagined; and won an Oscar, a Tony, Golden Globes, Oliviers and BAFTAs along the way. Yet despite the accolades, Judi has been accompanied by doubt. Is it any wonder she leaves a bag by the rehearsal room door in case she has to make a run for it? But stepping out of her comfort zone has been Judi’s guiding principle. Here she reveals all to Brendan O’Hea, her friend and writing partner.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250438928 

THE LOST SOULS OF SAINT ODA'S: A Ruby Vaughn Mystery by Jess Armstrong (Gothic/Historical Mystery) 
American heiress Ruby Vaughn has long believed that her entire family died when the Lusitania sank in 1915. But then her solicitor brings news that her mother inexplicably survived the catastrophe, and he believes he’s found her in a Belgian hospital just across the channel. With trepidation, Ruby sets off for Belgium with a simple task --- to go to the hospital at Saint Oda’s priory, find her mother and bring her home. However, upon her arrival at the priory, she learns the woman she sought had died and been hastily buried days before. Stunned, Ruby refuses to believe that her mother is truly gone. The more Ruby inquires into the woman’s fate, the more suspicious the death becomes.
Minotaur Books | 9781250374684 

MIDNIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: A Charles Lenox Mystery by Charles Finch (Historical Mystery)
In the spring of 1881, Charles Lenox is caught up in the whirl of London life when his brother arrives to tell him that there’s been a murder in the House of Commons. Robert Baddeley, a charismatic, womanizing Member, has been found poisoned in the hallowed chamber itself. Suspicion immediately falls on the women in his life, including his wife and mistress. But as Lenox digs deeper, he realizes that there were more than a few people who might have wanted Baddeley dead. Just when Lenox is nearing the truth of Baddeley’s murder, someone close to him is arrested for the crime --- and he must race to solve the case before losing everything.
Minotaur Books | 9781250433947 

MONSTERS OF OHIO by John Scalzi (Science Fiction & Horror/Humor)
Welcome to Richland, Ohio. Things aren't great. The town’s biggest employer is closing shop, and Richland is on the brink. It's where Mike Boyd, with his own set of problems, finds himself returning to after decades away. He's not planning to stay. But Richland has other plans for Mike; his old friend, Dave; and a newcomer, Andi. They're caught in a swirl of local troubles, private equity, executive theft…and something extremely weird involving Jeremy Keller’s prize cow.
Tor Books | 9780765389039 

MY BOOK OF DAYS: A Memoir in Moments by Eric Dane (Memoir)
In 2006, Eric Dane guest-starred on “Grey’s Anatomy” as Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan. What was intended to be a one-time guest appearance landed him a regular role on the Emmy-nominated show and would launch his acting career, leading to other roles in hit series like “The Last Ship” and “Euphoria.” Years later, Dane experienced another life-changing moment: being diagnosed with ALS. The sudden diagnosis caused him to slow down and reflect on the moments that had shaped him. In MY BOOK OF DAYS, Dane shares these reflections and invites readers to do the same with their lives. The book is told through a series of “days” that each illuminate a defining experience or emotional truth.
The Open Field | 9780593995662 

MY STREET: A Christmas Story written by Therese Bohman, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Fiction)
Therese has just left the safety of her childhood home to begin a new life at Stockholm University. She rents a small room in the outskirts of the city, tries to carve out a place for herself in its vastness, and feels invisible in the lecture halls. Everything changes when she meets Andreas. He dresses in black and carries himself with a blasé confidence. He also opens the door to another Stockholm, a world of literary fanzines, smoke-filled cafés, and late nights in an apartment on Kammakar Street. In the quiet, understated mystery between the city’s crowded throughfares and Kammakar Street’s desolation, a friendship begins to take shape, one that will come to define her life in many ways.
Other Press | 9781635426311 

NUMB WERE THE BEADSMAN'S FINGERS: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
In the cloisters of Golgotha House, a mere binocular’s-squint away from Buckshaw, a nun lies dead. When her fellow sisters prepare her corpse for burial, they discover that their companion has been living a shocking lie for years. The truth about her past, and the dark reasons she harbored for escaping it, are impossible to fathom. Charged with cracking this mystery is the firm of Arthur W. Dogger & Associates (Discreet investigations) --- consisting, of course, of the inimitable young Flavia de Luce and her faithful partner-in-detection, Dogger. Working under the eye of a glowering Mother Superior, Flavia and Dogger must uncover a decades-old crime and a secret that lies an ocean away --- along with a trail of deception that lies closer to home.
Bantam | 9780593724545 

THE NUREMBERG WOMEN: The Untold Story of the Eight Women Who Brought the Nazis to Justice by Natalie Livingstone (History)
In November 1945, the eyes of the world turned to Nuremberg. Humanity was seeking not only the truth about Nazi crimes but also a vision of what justice might look like in their aftermath. The trials are traditionally associated with a roll call of famous men, but they were only part of the story. Not only were there women involved in the trial in every role --- as journalists, researchers, lawyers, interpreters, court reporters, witnesses, artists and even defendants --- they were pivotal in the trial’s outcome. THE NUREMBERG WOMEN tells the story of eight of these women: a brilliant American lawyer, three pioneering journalists (two German, one British), an iconoclastic artist, a beautiful refugee aristocrat, a dauntless survivor of Auschwitz, and a young Russian translator.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250345189 

THE SHARED LIFE OF EGAN AND LUCIAN by Rose Smith (Fiction)
The McCauleys have raised their twin sons on Shep’s Island, just off the coast of Maine. Egan wants to be a professional athlete, and Lucian wants to be a painter. Growing up in the wake of a childhood accident that marked both boys, they are inseparable until Lucian quietly begins to wonder who he might be with no mirror image walking beside him. On a trip abroad, Lucian meets Lea, who follows him home to idyllic Shep’s Island. When a shocking family secret comes to light, Lea flees back to the mainland --- not with Lucian but with his twin, Egan, whose connection with Lea is immediate and undeniable. The years will pass with Lea caught between the two brothers. Even when she decides to begin a life on Shep’s Island with one of them, fate will continue to bring these three into one another’s orbit. 
Hawthorne Books | 9798993660202 

STATIONS by Louise Kennedy (Fiction)
In 1980s Ireland, Róisín and Red bond as only two precocious and disaffected teenagers can. Soon Red is privy to the secret source of Róisín’s shame and anger: the father who has abandoned her and her mother to their damp house and never-ending strife. But what does Róisín know about why Red avoids going home to his own posh parents and house --- the house he soon flees forever? When a Christmas visit to her father reveals the devastating truth of his new life in London, Róisín tracks down Red and moves into his Pimlico squat. But the path he is now on is a disturbing one, and gradually they drift apart. And yet the great, never-consummated passion of her youth remains a visitation upon the years that follow.
Riverhead Books | 9780593714607 

SWEET PEA by Kit de Waal (Fiction)
When Paulette arrived in England as a young girl, she left behind a grandmother in St. Kitts who called her “Sweet Pea,” taught her to cook, and admonished her to avoid temptation and embrace love and forgiveness, in that order. Now, Paulette is 29 and within reach of her dream: a wedding, a baby and a little house. She has the man, handsome Denton, and a good job as an assistant nurse. But when tragedy strikes, her baby comes from Denton’s friend, a relationship that can’t last. Soon it’s just Paulette, grieving the life she almost had, and her son, Bird. It seems like enough, until another boy, the same age as Bird, appears. Now, there’s someone new to take under her wing and worry about, someone who calls her Sweet Pea and makes her laugh.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250438010 

UNDERCOVER LIES: A Secret Lives Mystery by Mark de Castrique (Political Thriller/Mystery)
Seventy-five-year-old retired FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater is almost getting too old for a secret FBI mission. Her expert investigation skills are needed again when her elderly neighbor and close friend, Sarah Phelps, is found dead at her home, shot in the heart, and with an unknown male body next to her. It turns out Sarah had a secret boyfriend who apparently killed both her and himself, but evidence points to a more serious crime. Someone is targeting wealthy senior citizens, but as far as Ethel is concerned, death is too high a price to pay just for being old. Seeking justice for her friend and capitalizing on her extensive connections --- law enforcement and mobsters alike --- Ethel goes undercover to expose an intricate network of lies, threats and deadly schemes.
Severn House | 9781448316717 

WOLVES OF SUMMER: An Ocean State Novel by Donna Freitas (Mystery/Thriller)
July 1979: The people of Bonnet Shores are shaken to their core when 12-year-old Christina Grove doesn’t come home one night. Christina’s older sister, Maddie, takes the disappearance especially hard and blames herself for sending her little sister alone through the woods on her bike. Everyone shows up to help find the missing girl. Maddie has suspicions of her own that lead her to take ever more dangerous risks. Meanwhile, another local, Cricket Kelly, decides to investigate the unsavory characters of Bonnet in an attempt to both find Christina and come to terms with her own teenage trauma.
Soho Crime | 9781641298612 

On Sale the Week of November 2nd in Paperback

November 1st

THE SESSION by Andrew Mayne (Thriller)
Paperback Original
When paramedic Mark Greenley receives an anonymous scholarship, his investigation into its source leads to a Miami conglomerate called Summit Strategies. And to its charismatic cofounder, Max Lightman, Mark’s father, a shadowy figure throughout his life. Mark also discovers a half-brother named Kevin, a fixture at Summit who died under suspicious circumstances. These are the least of the revelations. The corporation specializes in psychological training sessions built on a highly protected program called “the tech.” Strangest of all is the heart of the empire: the Vault, a massive underground facility holding the deepest and darkest secrets of millions of people worldwide. The more Mark learns, the more he fears he hasn’t been invited to join the Summit family. He’s been lured. 
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662538933

THIEF OF HEARTS by Sariah Wilson (Fantasy/Romance)
Paperback Original
Basileia has never lost a fight. Goddess-blessed and battle-hardened, she’s trained her whole life to lead her Thracian clan --- until her mother names her sister as heir instead. Desperate to change her mind, Basileia enters a deadly tournament in a hidden desert city. The prize: a diviner stone that can answer any question. But to claim it, she must survive brutal races, bloody combat and fellow competitor Zain --- the devastatingly roguish king of thieves, who’s far too willing to help. Basileia doesn’t trust easily. And she definitely shouldn’t trust a thief whose every word might be a lie. But as the tournament’s dangers escalate and the attraction between them ignites, she begins to wonder if he might be the one person she can rely on. Until he betrays her.
Montlake | 9781662540677

November 3rd

BITTER HONEY by Lolá Ákínmádé (Fiction)
1978: A scholarship draws Nancy from Gambia’s warmth into Stockholm’s frigid winter. When her friendship with charismatic scholar Lars blossoms into something more, she thinks she finally may have found her place. But there’s more to Lars than his charming persona, and Nancy is about to discover the danger of being drawn into his world. 2006: Tina has had her taste of fame as Sweden’s sweetheart pop princess, representing her country at Eurovision. But beneath her glittery façade, she’s uncertain who she really is. Her mother, Nancy, seems desperate to keep the past under wraps, but will the unexpected appearance of Tina’s father --- a man she has long thought dead --- help open the door to self-discovery? Nancy just wants to protect her daughter from making the same mistakes she did, but Tina longs for the freedom to mess up.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063317031

BLOOD LIKE OURS by Stuart Neville (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
El Paso, Texas. Rebecca Carter awoke on a morgue table with only two desires: to find her daughter, Moonflower; and to sate her gnawing hunger. Rebecca sets out on a desperate quest, fighting her murderous craving for blood, and pursued by a vengeful FBI agent. Alone in the wild, Monica Carter survives on whatever small prey she can hunt down. But she needs more. One night, a young man lures her through the mountain scrub with the scent of human blood, promising that he and his little brother will feed her and keep her safe. Somehow these brothers know her nickname --- Moonflower --- and the truth of what she is. She needs them. But can she trust them?
Hell’s Hundred ‎| 9781641298469

THE BONE THIEF by Vanessa Lillie (Mystery/Thriller)
In the hours before dawn at a local summer camp, Bureau of Indian Affairs archaeologist Syd Walker receives an alarming call: newly discovered skeletal remains have been stolen. Not only have bones gone missing, but a Native teen girl has disappeared near the camp, and law enforcement dismisses her family's fears. As Syd investigates both crimes, she's drawn into a world of privileged campers and their wealthy parents --- most of them members of the Founders Society, an exclusive club whose members trace their lineage to the first colonists and claim ancestral rights to the land, despite fierce objections from the local tribal community. And it's not the first time something --- or someone --- has gone missing from the camp. The deeper Syd digs, the more she realizes these aren't isolated incidents.
Berkley | 9780593550168

CARSON THE MAGNIFICENT by Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas (Biography)
In 2002, celebrated Esquire writer Bill Zehme landed one of journalism’s most coveted assignments: the first and only major interview that Johnny Carson granted after retiring from “The Tonight Show." The resulting piece portrayed Carson as more human being than showbiz legend, and after Carson’s death Zehme began work on this biography. Though illness prevented him from completing the project before his death in 2023, the pages he left behind illuminate one of the most inscrutable figures in entertainment history. Completed with help from Zehme’s former research assistant, journalist Mike Thomas, CARSON THE MAGNIFICENT offers an honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451645286

THE DARK TIME: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller)
Usually, investigative journalist Katelyn Thorsen just shrugs off death threats as part of the job. This time, however, the threat is on a whole new level. If she doesn’t back away from a story, both Katelyn and her 13-year-old daughter will be killed. Enter Peter Ash --- former Marine and current protector of last resort. When his girlfriend, June Cassidy, alerts him to the situation, he doesn’t hesitate. For Peter, escalating danger can only be countered by an aggressive response. But he has to get Katelyn and her daughter out of the line of fire before he can follow the threats back to their source. This isn’t Peter’s first dance with the devil. He’s faced deadly trials before, but somehow this one feels different. Upon arrival, he’s thrown into a maelstrom of mystery and violence greater than anything he expected.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593540602

DINNER AT THE NIGHT LIBRARY written by Hika Harada, translated by Philip Gabriel (Fiction/Magical Realism)
All Otoha Higuchi wants to do is work with books. However, the exhausting nature of her work at a chain bookstore quickly brings reality crashing down around her. She is on the verge of quitting when she receives a message from somebody anonymous, inviting her to apply for a job at "The Night Library." The library exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out. Instead, they’re put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library’s visitors. Night after night, Otoha bonds with her colleagues over meals in the café, each of which are inspired by the literature on the shelves. But as strange occurrences start happening around the library that may bring the threat of its closure, Otoha and her friends fear that the peace they have found there will be forever lost to them.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335002884

FIRST LOVE LAST LOVE by Adele Griffin (Romance)
Paperback Original
Elijah Beck, Vida Jamison’s first love and most enduring wildcard, is back in town. He might have struck gold on the stage, writing the soundtrack to the lives of a generation. But for Vida, he's just the one person who has always known how to get under her skin. Elijah, for all his talent and magnetism, has spent a lifetime being wanted but never quite held --- by the industry that made him famous, by the fans who adored him from a safe distance. When an accident lands them in the hospital, Vida has to face the question she's spent two decades avoiding: Is Elijah her greatest mistake, or the love she was always meant to find again?
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728264080

FLAT EARTH by Anika Jade Levy (Fiction)
Avery is a grad student in New York working on a collection of cultural reports and flailing financially and emotionally. She dates older men for money, and others for the oblivion their egos offer. In an act of desperation, Avery takes a job at a right-wing dating app. The "white-paper" she is tasked to write for the startup eventually merges with her dissertation, resulting in a metafictional text that reveals itself over the course of the novel. Meanwhile, her best friend, Frances, an effortlessly chic emerging filmmaker from a wealthy Southern family, drops out of grad school, gets married, and somehow still manages to finish her first feature documentary. Frances' triumphant return to New York as the toast of the art world sends Avery into a final tailspin, pushing her to make a series of devastating decisions.
Catapult | 9781646223602

THE LAST DREAM written by Pedro Almodóvar, translated by Frank Wynne (Fiction & Nonfiction/Short Stories)
With this debut collection, two-time Academy Award-winning writer and director Pedro Almodóvar delivers a tantalizing glimpse into his world, formed by 12 stories carefully selected from his personal writings dating from the late ‘60s to the present. Almodóvar writes: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I’ve always refused…. I’ve never kept a diary, and whenever I’ve tried, I’ve never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little enigmatic.” Each entry reflects Almodóvar's most intimate obsessions, as well as his evolution as an artist.
HarperVia | 9780063349759

THE LAST WISH OF BRISTOL KEATS by Mary E. Pearson (Fantasy/Romance)
After Bristol Keats nearly loses her beloved King Tyghan to the monsters her mother had unleashed, their love deepens to a whole new level. Together, Bristol and Tyghan work to understand and reconcile their differences, moving forward with their common goal of saving Elphame. But when a daring rescue attempt turns into a disaster, and a beloved knight dies, Bristol is forced to confront the fact that her mother is more powerful than she ever could have imagined --- and more dangerous. Meanwhile, Tyghan’s heart is laid bare when he encounters his former best friend and betrayer again, Bristol's own father, and must wrestle with a new secret that throws everything he thought he knew about his past into question. Bristol is Elphame’s last chance for survival, but where do her loyalties truly lie?
Flatiron Books | 9781250332028

LIGHTBREAKERS by Aja Gabel (Fiction)
Maya, an artist, and Noah, a quantum physicist, share an insatiable curiosity about the world. But their happy marriage has a shadow over it: Serena, the child Noah had with his first wife, who died before she turned four. When Noah is invited by the Janus Project to unravel the secrets of time travel, he jumps at the opportunity. At a laboratory deep in the Texas desert, he begins participating in a dangerous experiment that could result in something he thought impossible: seeing his daughter again. Meanwhile, Maya embarks on a journey back to her own past in Japan, and to a formative lover who once shattered her heart. As Noah and Maya grapple with hope and despair, new information emerges that the experiments might not be exactly what they seem.
Riverhead Books | 9780593329719

LOVE, LIKE APPLES by Jeff Zentner (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Growing up motherless and under the cruel eye of his alcoholic, emotionally distant father, Tiller Loomis seems destined for a hardscrabble life. The one ray of light is his older brother, Smith, who salvages what otherwise might have been a brutal childhood. But when Smith is drafted into the Vietnam War, Tiller’s world collapses. He stumbles into a children’s puppet show at his church and ultimately finds purpose and joy through puppetry. Chasing his dream of puppeteering full time, Tiller lands in the bohemian hothouse of 1977 New York City, where experimental artists and misfit idealists are using puppets to try to reach teens with a message of hope on a PBS show called “Imagine Nation.” In the cast, Tiller finds a chosen family of dreamers and creators who will change his life forever.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538773604

MIDNIGHT FLYBOYS: The American Bomber Crews and Allied Secret Agents Who Aided the French Resistance in World War II by Bruce Henderson (History)
In 1943, the OSS came up with a plan to increase its support to the French resistance forces that were fighting the Nazis. They recruited some of the best American bomber pilots and crews to a secret airfield 20 miles west of London.Their dangerous plan called for a new kind of flying: taking their B-24 Liberator bombers in the middle of the night across the English Channel and down to extremely low altitudes in Nazi-occupied France to find drop zones in dark fields. On the ground, resistance members waited to receive steel containers filled with everything from rifles and hand grenades to medicine and bicycle tires. Based on exclusive research and interviews, the definitive story of these heroic flyers --- and of the brave secret agents and resistance leaders they aided --- can now be told. 
Gallery Books | 9781668051429

MONA’S EYES written by Thomas Schlesser, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Fiction)
While the doctors can find no explanation for Mona's brief episode of blindness, they agree that the threat of permanent vision loss cannot be ruled out. The girl's grandfather, Henry, may not be able to stop his granddaughter from losing her sight, but he can fill the encroaching darkness with beauty. Every Wednesday for a year, the pair abscond together and visit a single masterpiece in one of Paris's renowned museums. From Botticelli to Basquiat, Mona learns how each artist's work shaped the world around them. In turn, the young girl's world is changed forever by the power of their art. Under the kind and careful tutelage of her grandfather, Mona learns the true meaning of generosity, melancholy, love, loss and revolution.
Europa Editions | 9798889662280

THE OTHER KIND OF LION by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
It’s 1970 in rural California where Shirley Bennett, a 40-year-old Vietnam War widow, lives with her two sons. It’s a routine life until she sees Cash Pierce, a scruffy 11-year-old boy, trailing the fence alongside her Appaloosa, Phoenix. Abandoned by his father, his mother in jail, and being raised by his teenage brother, Cash is lonely and bullied, but smart as a whip and starved for attention. Shirley begins inviting him for dinners, providing lunch money, sewing his shirts, and offering the maternal care he desperately needs. Neither realizes that such simple acts of kindness create a bond that will span five decades and redefine family itself. Through war, loss, grief, illness, second chances and years of separation, they will meet again.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662522369

QUEEN ESTHER by John Irving (Historical Fiction)
Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine. Her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther. In fact, he won’t find any family who’ll adopt her. When Esther is 14, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending. Even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501189456

REVENGE, SERVED ROYAL by Celeste Connally (Historical Mystery)
Lady Petra Forsyth and some of the most illustrious members of the ton descend upon Windsor Castle for a week of royal celebrations, with the highlight being Queen Charlotte’s inaugural patisserie contest for the best bakers employed by England’s finest houses. Not only is Lady Petra’s own cook one of the contestants, but Her Majesty has requested that Petra herself serve as one of the judges. Yet upon arrival, Petra encounters a frantic housemaid pointing to the body of one of Her Majesty’s guests --- and to the valet still tugging at the silk ribbon used to strangle the victim. What’s more, the valet turns out to be Oliver Beecham, the ne’er-do-well brother of Petra’s own lady’s maid, Annie. But when some poisoned tea meant for Petra is consumed by one of her fellow judges, it’s clear that the real killer is still walking the castle’s halls.
Minotaur Books | 9781250387417

SERVED HIM RIGHT by Lisa Unger (Psychological Thriller)
Ana Blacksmith has gathered her closest friends and sister, Vera, for a brunch to celebrate her recent breakup from her boyfriend, Paul. But when shocking news about Paul arrives, all eyes are on Ana, the angry ex with a bad reputation. Suspicions only intensify when Ana’s best friend falls deathly ill after the brunch. But Ana is not the only one who had a score to settle with Paul. As the investigation unfolds, rumors of a secret network that uses ancient methods to obtain justice begin to emerge. Vengeance is sweet, but it also can be deadly. Ana and Vera are determined to find the truth before Ana takes the fall and their own long-buried history comes to light.
Park Row | 9780778360070

SON OF THE MORNING by Akwaeke Emezi (Paranormal Romance/Fantasy)
Tenderhearted Galilee was raised by the Kincaids, a formidable clan of Black women sequestered deep in the weeping willows and dark rushing creeks of their land. Galilee has always known that she’s different --- that there is an old and unknowable secret around her very existence. Lucifer Helel is fronting as the head of security for her wealthy friend Oriaku’s family, protecting a mysterious, ancient artifact. But from the moment she lays eyes on him, Galilee knows he’s not human. From her first incendiary touch, Lucifer knows something even Galilee herself doesn’t --- that she isn’t human either. Leviathan, Lucifer’s most trusted prince of Hell, is determined to eliminate the intolerable danger that is Galilee before she brings death and disaster to those he loves. But Lucifer and Galilee’s attraction threatens to bring all the structures of their existence crashing down around them.
Avon | 9780063323193

THE STOLEN CROWN: Treachery, Deceit, and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty by Tracy Borman (History)
In the long and dramatic annals of British history, no transition from one monarch to another has been as fraught and consequential as that which ended the Tudor dynasty and launched the Stuart in March 1603. At her death, Elizabeth I had reigned for 44 turbulent years, facing many threats. But no danger was greater than the uncertainty over who would succeed her. As Tracy Borman reveals in THE STOLEN CROWN, according to Elizabeth’s earliest biographer, William Camden, on her deathbed the queen indicated that James was her chosen heir, and indeed he did become king soon after she died. That endorsement has been accepted as fact for more than four centuries. However, recent analysis of Camden’s original manuscript shows that key passages were pasted over and rewritten to burnish James’ legacy.
Grove Press | 9780802168511

SUCH A PERFECT FAMILY by Nalini Singh (Domestic Thriller)
Love at first sight, a whirlwind Vegas wedding, a fairy-tale romance. For 43 days, Tavish Advani has been the happiest man in the world --- until his new life turns to ash, his wealthy in-laws’ house going up in a fiery explosion. His badly injured wife lies in a coma, her family all but annihilated. Tavish thought he'd left the sins of his Los Angeles life behind, but it’s not so easy to leave behind an investigation into the deaths of several high-profile women --- all of whom he'd professed to love. Desperately trying to clear his name as the authorities zero in, Tavish begins his own investigation into the fire --- and learns that his wife’s picture-perfect family may have been nothing but a meticulously constructed mirage. The truth is much darker than anything Tavish could’ve imagined.
Berkley | 9780593549810

TO THE MOON AND BACK by Eliana Ramage (Fiction)
Steph Harper is convinced that only space --- outer space --- can save her. From a childhood of fearful running and alienation; from a family and community that threaten to suffocate her with their reverence for the past. TO THE MOON AND BACK charts the course of Steph’s singular dream: to become the first Cherokee astronaut, no matter who or what she has to leave behind. But despite her self-prescribed loneliness and reckless ambition, Steph’s story isn’t hers alone. The book also brings to life the vibrant, complex women --- a celebrity activist younger sister, an ex-Mormon college girlfriend, and a devoted mother with a crushing secret --- who insist on loving her...even when she least deserves them.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668065860

WITHOUT CONSENT: A Landmark Trial and the Decades-Long Struggle to Make Spousal Rape a Crime by Sarah Weinman (True Crime)
In 1978, Greta Rideout was the first woman in United States history to accuse her husband of rape, at a time when the idea of “marital rape” seemed ludicrous to many Americans and was a crime in only four states. After a quick and conservative trial acquitted John Rideout and a defense lawyer lambasted that “maybe rape is the risk of being married,” Greta was ridiculed and scorned from public life, while John went on to be a repeat offender. Thrust into the national spotlight, Greta and her story would become a national sensation, a symbol of a country’s unrelenting and targeted hate toward women and a court system designed to fail them at every turn. A now little-remembered trial deserving of close, wide and lasting attention, Sarah Weinman turns her signature intelligence and journalistic rigor to the enduring impact of this case. 
Ecco | 9780063279896

November 5th

JUST HER HOLIDAY TYPE by Brisa Carleton (Romantic Comedy/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Every December, Plum Hayes writes the kind of cozy Christmas romance movies her readers watch and love. Two weeks from deadline and out of holiday spirit, she's been packed off to Pine Tree, a snow-globe town with all the charm but surprisingly few of the Christmas traditions for which it used to be known. There she finds the typewriter. And the typewriter magically manifests her leading man to her exact specifications. Zach is perfect. The problem is Ethan. Ethan, the no-nonsense, flannel-wearing owner of the antique shop downstairs, says inconvenient true things and looks at her in a way that no script could ever quite capture. With Christmas Eve closing in and her deadline looming, Plum is going to have to choose between the perfect man and the right one.
Literati Ink LLC | 9798997196103

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