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Ashley Elston, author of First Lie Wins

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes --- especially after what happened last time. Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to --- her real identity --- just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her.

Editorial Content for The Ascent

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Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Detroit police officer Kurt Argento hasn’t been the same since his beloved wife, Emily, died from cancer. Or, rather, perhaps he’s been too much the same, too prone to the violence and impulsiveness that were his weaknesses before he met her. But this time, when he recklessly takes on a fight with some perps, needlessly risking both his and his partner’s safety, not even his loyalty to the Detroit police force --- a relationship extending across generations --- is enough to salvage his career. Read More

Teaser

Kurt Argento is an ex-Detroit street cop who can’t let injustice go. If he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley, he's going to rescue her and cause some damage. When he does just that in a small corrupt Missouri town, he’s brutally beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison. Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor's daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, a fierce struggle for survival ensues. Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety. All that stands in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri.

Promo

Kurt Argento is an ex-Detroit street cop who can’t let injustice go. If he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley, he's going to rescue her and cause some damage. When he does just that in a small corrupt Missouri town, he’s brutally beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison. Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor's daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, a fierce struggle for survival ensues. Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety. All that stands in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri.

About the Book

When a high security prison fails, a down-on-his-luck cop and the governor’s daughter are going to have to team up if they’re going to escape in this "jaw-dropping, authentic, and absolutely gripping" (Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author) debut thriller from Adam Plantinga, whose first nonfiction book Lee Child praised as “truly excellent.”

Kurt Argento, an ex-Detroit street cop who can’t let injustice go --- and who has the fighting skills to back up his idealism.

If he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley, he's going to rescue her and cause some damage. 

When he does just that in a small corrupt Missouri town, he’s brutally beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison.

Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor's daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, a fierce struggle for survival ensues.  

Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety. 

All that stands in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri. 

Audiobook available, read by Charles Halford and Christine Lakin

Editorial Content for The Weekend Retreat

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Christine M. Irvin

In Tara Laskowski’s THE WEEKEND RETREAT, Lauren has accepted an invitation from her boyfriend, Zach Van Ness, to spend the weekend at his family’s lavish and sprawling estate. They will be celebrating the birthdays of Zach’s twin brother and sister, Richard and Harper. Also in attendance will be Richard’s wife, Elle; Harper’s husband, Lucas; and a couple of unrelated guests. Read More

Teaser

Every year, the illustrious Van Ness siblings, heirs to a copper fortune, gather at their secluded winery estate for a joint birthday celebration. It's a tradition they've followed nearly all their lives, and now they are back with their significant others for a much-needed weekend of rest and relaxation. The trip should be the perfect escape, but it soon becomes clear that even a remote idyllic getaway can’t keep out the problems simmering in each of their lives. As old tensions are reignited, the three couples are pushed to the edge. Will their secrets destroy them, or will they destroy each other first? And who’s been watching them from beyond the vineyard gates? When a torrential rainstorm hits, plunging them into darkness, the answers prove all too deadly.

Promo

Every year, the illustrious Van Ness siblings, heirs to a copper fortune, gather at their secluded winery estate for a joint birthday celebration. It's a tradition they've followed nearly all their lives, and now they are back with their significant others for a much-needed weekend of rest and relaxation. The trip should be the perfect escape, but it soon becomes clear that even a remote idyllic getaway can’t keep out the problems simmering in each of their lives. As old tensions are reignited, the three couples are pushed to the edge. Will their secrets destroy them, or will they destroy each other first? And who’s been watching them from beyond the vineyard gates? When a torrential rainstorm hits, plunging them into darkness, the answers prove all too deadly.

About the Book

A wealthy family's vacation at their lush winery estate becomes a weekend to kill for in this deliciously twisted novel of suspense.

Every year, the illustrious Van Ness siblings, heirs to a copper fortune, gather at their secluded winery estate for a joint birthday celebration. It's a tradition they've followed nearly all their lives, and now they are back with their significant others for a much-needed weekend of rest and relaxation, away from the public spotlight.

With lavish comforts, gorgeous scenery and indulgent drinking, the trip should be the perfect escape. But it soon becomes clear that even a remote idyllic getaway can’t keep out the problems simmering in each of their lives. As old tensions are reignited, the three couples are pushed to the edge. Will their secrets destroy them, or will they destroy each other first? And who’s been watching them from beyond the vineyard gates?

When a torrential rainstorm hits, plunging them into darkness, the answers prove all too deadly.

Audiobook available; read by Emily Ellet, Karissa Vacker, Lisa Flanagan and Gail Shalan

Editorial Content for Midnight

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Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Amy McCulloch’s survival thriller, BREATHLESS, released to rave reviews. Now she’s back with another high-stakes, pulse-pounding chiller, MIDNIGHT, this time set in the frigid waters of Antarctica. Read More

Teaser

In the frigid summers of the Antarctic continent, the sun never sets, and Olivia Campbell has long dreamed of spending a sunlit night in this beautiful, remote place. So when her boyfriend --- a high-powered art dealer --- decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction aboard a luxury cruise liner to Antarctica, Olivia can hardly believe her luck. That is, until the ship sets sail and her boyfriend is nowhere to be found, and she is left to manage both the auction and her own creeping fear of the open ocean entirely alone. And as though that weren't enough, the first bodies turn up soon after. It seems like a terrible accident. But as the situation deteriorates, it soon becomes clear that there is real danger on board --- and the closest help is hundreds of miles away.

Promo

In the frigid summers of the Antarctic continent, the sun never sets, and Olivia Campbell has long dreamed of spending a sunlit night in this beautiful, remote place. So when her boyfriend --- a high-powered art dealer --- decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction aboard a luxury cruise liner to Antarctica, Olivia can hardly believe her luck. That is, until the ship sets sail and her boyfriend is nowhere to be found, and she is left to manage both the auction and her own creeping fear of the open ocean entirely alone. And as though that weren't enough, the first bodies turn up soon after. It seems like a terrible accident. But as the situation deteriorates, it soon becomes clear that there is real danger on board --- and the closest help is hundreds of miles away.

About the Book

In this pulse-pounding thriller, a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica --- to camp beneath the legendary midnight sun --- becomes a desperate battle for survival against a killer determined to follow their prey to the ends of the earth.

In the frigid summers of the Antarctic continent, the sun never sets, and Olivia Campbell has long dreamed of spending a sunlit night in this beautiful, remote place. So when her boyfriend --- a high-powered art dealer with a taste for the finer things in life --- decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction aboard a luxury cruise liner to Antarctica, Olivia can hardly believe her luck. That is, until the ship sets sail and her boyfriend is nowhere to be found, and she is left to manage both the auction and her own creeping fear of the open ocean entirely alone. And as though that weren't enough, the first bodies turn up soon after.

It seems like a terrible accident. This is the Drake Passage, after all, one of the most notorious bodies of water on the planet, and there are always risks in such extreme conditions. But as the situation deteriorates, it soon becomes clear that there is real danger on board --- and the closest help is hundreds of miles away. With tensions rising and temperatures plummeting, Olivia wonders whether she's booked a fabulous adventure...or a one-way ticket to her own destruction.

Audiobook available, read by Cathleen McCarron

Editorial Content for Nonfiction

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Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

After reading NONFICTION, you may want to look up Julie Myerson to learn more about her and her book. Or maybe you will do so before you even begin delving into this work of fiction. Either way, you will find articles both critical of and sympathetic towards Myerson’s use of her own life and that of her children in her novels. That blurring of lines between real life and imagination is just one of the themes --- but perhaps the key one --- in NONFICTION, as the title may lead you to note. Read More

Teaser

Two parents stand by powerlessly as their only child seems intent on destroying herself. As the mother --- a novelist --- attempts to understand her daughter, she finds herself revisiting her own uneasy, unresolved relationship with her mother. Weaving between childhoods past and present, laced with temptation and betrayal, NONFICTION is an unflinching account of a mother, daughter, wife and author reckoning with the world around her. But can a writer ever be trusted with the truth of her own story?

Promo

Two parents stand by powerlessly as their only child seems intent on destroying herself. As the mother --- a novelist --- attempts to understand her daughter, she finds herself revisiting her own uneasy, unresolved relationship with her mother. Weaving between childhoods past and present, laced with temptation and betrayal, NONFICTION is an unflinching account of a mother, daughter, wife and author reckoning with the world around her. But can a writer ever be trusted with the truth of her own story?

About the Book

This is definitely not a ghost story. But for a while after you’re gone, I see you everywhere. Every ragged young person sitting huddled on a pavement, every stretched-out body under cardboard in a shop doorway.

Two parents stand by powerlessly as their only child seems intent on destroying herself. As the mother --- a novelist --- attempts to understand her daughter, she finds herself revisiting her own uneasy, unresolved relationship with her mother. Weaving between childhoods past and present, laced with temptation and betrayal, NONFICTION is an unflinching account of a mother, daughter, wife and author reckoning with the world around her. But can a writer ever be trusted with the truth of her own story?

Clear-eyed, lacerating and fearless, Julie Myerson’s NONFICTION explores maternal love as an emotional foundation to both crave and fear. A hauntingly beautiful and deeply moving love letter from a mother to a daughter, this is a tale of damage and addiction, recovery and creativity, compassion and love.

Editorial Content for Here in Avalon

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

HERE IN AVALON, Tara Isabella Burton's third novel (following SOCIAL CREATURE and THE WORLD CANNOT GIVE), is her most magical, sincere book yet.

Once there were two sisters. Cecilia, the elder, is rarely washed or brushed, her tights are always full of runs, and she has never once been on time. In her sister Rose’s eyes, she is a revolution, an ephemeral creature who is as likely to do shots and smoke cigarettes with you on the lid of a grand piano as she is to make a security guard at a museum cry with her earnest, probing questions. Read More

Teaser

Raised --- and often neglected --- by a wayward mother, Rose finally has built the life she’s always wanted. Her sister Cecilia, on the other hand, has spent her life in pursuit of fairy-tale narratives of transcendence and true love. When Cecilia declares she’s come home for good, following the ending of a whirlwind marriage, Rose hopes Cecilia finally might be ready to face adulthood. But then Cecilia gets involved with the Avalon, a cultish-sounding cabaret troupe, and soon vanishes --- one of a growing number of suspicious disappearances among the city’s lost and loneliest souls. The only way Rose can find Cecilia is by tracking down the Avalon herself. But as Rose gets closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, the Avalon works its magic on her, too.

Promo

Raised --- and often neglected --- by a wayward mother, Rose finally has built the life she’s always wanted. Her sister Cecilia, on the other hand, has spent her life in pursuit of fairy-tale narratives of transcendence and true love. When Cecilia declares she’s come home for good, following the ending of a whirlwind marriage, Rose hopes Cecilia finally might be ready to face adulthood. But then Cecilia gets involved with the Avalon, a cultish-sounding cabaret troupe, and soon vanishes --- one of a growing number of suspicious disappearances among the city’s lost and loneliest souls. The only way Rose can find Cecilia is by tracking down the Avalon herself. But as Rose gets closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, the Avalon works its magic on her, too.

About the Book

An “enchanting” (Caroline Kepnes, author of YOU) New York City fairy tale about two sisters that fall under the spell of an underworld cabaret troupe that might be a dangerous cult --- but one that makes the materialist world left in its wake feel like a sinister cult itself.

Rose has come a long way. Raised --- and often neglected --- by a wayward mother in New York City’s chaotic bohemia, Rose has finally built the life she’s always wanted: a good job at a self-help startup, a clean apartment, an engagement to a stable if self-satisfied tech CEO who shares her faith in human potential, hard work and the sacrifice of childish dreams.

Rose’s sister Cecilia, on the other hand, never grew up. Irresponsible and impetuous, prone to jetting off to a European monastery one month and a falcon rescue the next, Cecilia has spent her life in pursuit of fairy-tale narratives of transcendence and true love --- grand ideas Rose knows never work out in the real world. When Cecilia declares she’s come home to New York for good, following the ending of a whirlwind marriage, Rose hopes Cecilia might finally be ready to face adulthood: compromises and all.

But then Cecilia gets involved with the Avalon: a cultish-sounding cabaret troupe --- one that appears only at night, on a mysterious red boat that travels New York’s waterways --- and soon vanishes: one of a growing number of suspicious disappearances among the city’s lost and loneliest souls. The only way Rose can find Cecilia is by tracking down the Avalon herself.

But as Rose gets closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, the Avalon works its magic on her, too. And the deeper she goes into the Avalon’s underworld, she more she begins to question everything she knows about her own life, and if she’s willing to leave the real world behind.

Audiobook available, read by Devon Sorvari

Editorial Content for Daughter of Ashes: A Teresa Battaglia Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a criminal detective on the Italian police force, is nearing retirement primarily due to a progressive form of Alzheimer’s. But she never uses her health as an excuse not to do her job. Read More

Teaser

Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a trailblazing criminal detective on the Italian police force, is on sick leave, recovering from her recent brush with death in pursuit of a killer. But none of her colleagues, not even her partner, know that her Alzheimer’s is getting worse, and that she is unsure she will ever return to work. Teresa’s plans for retirement are shelved, however, when she is urgently summoned to meet with menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi. Refusing to speak with anyone but Teresa, whose investigative work 27 years prior landed him in maximum security prison, Mainardi has disconcerting news: somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. To solve the case, Teresa must come face to face with a history she thought she’d buried.

Promo

Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a trailblazing criminal detective on the Italian police force, is on sick leave, recovering from her recent brush with death in pursuit of a killer. But none of her colleagues, not even her partner, know that her Alzheimer’s is getting worse, and that she is unsure she will ever return to work. Teresa’s plans for retirement are shelved, however, when she is urgently summoned to meet with menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi. Refusing to speak with anyone but Teresa, whose investigative work 27 years prior landed him in maximum security prison, Mainardi has disconcerting news: somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. To solve the case, Teresa must come face to face with a history she thought she’d buried.

About the Book

Set in the idyllic mountains of Northern Italy, the latest volume in Ilaria Tuti’s gripping series is a tour de force, a poignant and irresistible story about the relentless pull of the past on the present.

Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a trailblazing criminal detective on the Italian police force, is on sick leave, recovering from her recent brush with death in pursuit of a killer. But none of her colleagues, not even her partner, know that her Alzheimer’s is getting worse, and that she is unsure she will ever return to work.

Teresa’s plans for retirement are shelved, however, when she is urgently summoned to meet with menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi. Refusing to speak with anyone but Teresa, whose investigative work 27 years prior landed him in maximum security prison, Mainardi has disconcerting news: somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. To solve the case, Teresa must come face to face with a history she thought she’d buried, back to when Giacomo first began to kill, and Teresa --- newly pregnant and married to an abusive man --- did everything she could to catch him.

Audiobook available, read by Christina Moore

Editorial Content for Dissolved

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Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Not only have Nordic or Scandinavian crime thrillers become their own unique genre, they continue to crank out increasingly talented writers who produce great stories set in this part of the world. DISSOLVED is my second time around with Sara Blaedel, but my first with her coauthor, Mads Peder Nordbo. Read More

Teaser

Everything is peaceful in Tommerup, Denmark, until a young mother disappears in the middle of an idyllic summer day. There’s no trace of the missing woman when Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Torp are called to investigate. When another person goes missing, and Liam and Dea find a strange note linking the second missing person to the first crime, they suspect the disappearances may be the work of a serial killer. As the investigation continues, dark secrets about the victims from the past are revealed. Is someone targeting them because of this? As more people vanish, it’s a race against time for Liam and Dea, who find themselves face to face with horrifying footage that reveals what is happening to the victims --- and what will happen to future targets if they can’t stop the killer.

Promo

Everything is peaceful in Tommerup, Denmark, until a young mother disappears in the middle of an idyllic summer day. There’s no trace of the missing woman when Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Torp are called to investigate. When another person goes missing, and Liam and Dea find a strange note linking the second missing person to the first crime, they suspect the disappearances may be the work of a serial killer. As the investigation continues, dark secrets about the victims from the past are revealed. Is someone targeting them because of this? As more people vanish, it’s a race against time for Liam and Dea, who find themselves face to face with horrifying footage that reveals what is happening to the victims --- and what will happen to future targets if they can’t stop the killer.

About the Book

For fans of Jo Nesbø and Lars Kepler comes the newest crime novel from Denmark's bestselling suspense giants Sara Blædel and Mads Peder Nordbo.

Everything is peaceful in Tommerup, Denmark, until a young mother disappears in the middle of an idyllic summer day. There’s no trace of the missing woman when Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Torp are called to investigate. The small town is on edge, rumors begin to fly, and blame is cast on Charlotte’s husband, who was the last to see her. When another person goes missing and Liam and Dea find a strange note linking the second missing person to the first crime, they suspect the disappearances may be the work of a serial killer.

As the investigation continues, dark secrets about the victims from the past are revealed. Is someone targeting them because of this? As more people vanish, it’s a race against time for Liam and Dea, who find themselves face-to-face with horrifying footage that reveals what is happening to the victims --- and what will happen to future targets if they can’t stop the killer.

In this pulse-pounding thriller, Sara Blædel and Mads Peder Nordbo ratchet up the tension in a cat-and-mouse game where the killer is always one step ahead.

Audiobook available, read by Lila Newman

Editorial Content for Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of the Century (Centenary Edition)

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

In LEOPOLD AND LOEB, Hal Higdon presents a thorough, thoughtful and appropriately eerie account of the evil deeds perpetrated by two highly gifted young men seeking to achieve the “perfect crime.” Read More

Teaser

The 1924 murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb shocked the nation. One hundred years later, the killing and its aftermath still reverberate through popular culture and the history of American crime. Hal Higdon’s true crime classic offers an unprecedented examination of the case. Beginning with a new author Preface, Higdon details Leopold and Loeb’s journey from privilege and promise to the planning and execution of their monstrous vision of the perfect crime. Drawing on secret testimony, Higdon follows the police investigation through the pair’s confessions of guilt and recreates the sensational hearing where Clarence Darrow, the nation’s most famous attorney, saved the pair from the death penalty.

Promo

The 1924 murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb shocked the nation. One hundred years later, the killing and its aftermath still reverberate through popular culture and the history of American crime. Hal Higdon’s true crime classic offers an unprecedented examination of the case. Beginning with a new author Preface, Higdon details Leopold and Loeb’s journey from privilege and promise to the planning and execution of their monstrous vision of the perfect crime. Drawing on secret testimony, Higdon follows the police investigation through the pair’s confessions of guilt and recreates the sensational hearing where Clarence Darrow, the nation’s most famous attorney, saved the pair from the death penalty.

About the Book

The 1924 murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb shocked the nation. One hundred years later, the killing and its aftermath still reverberate through popular culture and the history of American crime.

Hal Higdon’s true crime classic offers an unprecedented examination of the case. Beginning with a new author Preface, Higdon details Leopold and Loeb’s journey from privilege and promise to the planning and execution of their monstrous vision of the perfect crime. Drawing on secret testimony, Higdon follows the police investigation through the pair’s confessions of guilt and recreates the sensational hearing where Clarence Darrow, the nation’s most famous attorney, saved the pair from the death penalty.

Published in observance of the case's centennial, LEOPOLD AND LOEB tells the dramatic story of a notorious crime and its long afterlife in the American imagination.

January 5, 2024

And we’re back! I confess that I feel like the break was a little shorter than I would have liked. There were lots of books that I had hoped to read, though I did read two that I enjoyed that I will get to in a minute. And I think just a wee bit more relaxing could have happened. But just before the staff headed out to celebrate with our families, we met as a team to work on some plans for 2024, and those have us very excited.