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John Boyne, author of The Elements

In THE ELEMENTS, acclaimed Irish novelist John Boyne has created an epic saga that weaves together four interconnected narratives, each representing a different perspective on crime: the enabler, the accomplice, the perpetrator and the victim. The narrative follows a mother on the run from her past, a young soccer star facing a trial, a successful surgeon grappling with childhood trauma, and a father on a transformative journey with his son. Each is somehow connected to the next, and as the story unfolds, their lives intersect in unimaginable ways.

Jeffery Deaver, author of The Grave Artist

A wedding reception is coming to a close in the Hollywood Hills when the blissful day is shattered by the death of one of the newlyweds. Though the incident appears to be an accident, Homeland Security Investigations agent Carmen Sanchez and her partner, security expert Jake Heron, discover that the tragedy is the third in a series of similar deaths and conclude something far more sinister is at play. The two uncover chilling evidence pointing to a serial killer who has taken evil to the next level. Dubbed the Honeymoon Killer, this man isn’t interested in his victims but in creating his own macabre masterpiece from their graves --- focused on the survivors and reveling in their grief. And now his dark obsession has turned to Carmen and Jake. Time is running out as a deadly game between predator and prey begins.

Lee Child, author of Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories

After making his debut in 1997’s THE KILLING FLOOR, Jack Reacher has quickly become one of the most popular --- and most enduring --- fictional heroes to emerge in the past half-century. Now, his creator tells the stories behind the stories. These are the origin tales of all of the Reacher novels written solely by Lee Child, chock full of colorful anecdotes and intriguing inspirations. An afterword by crime fiction expert and bookseller Otto Penzler considers the importance of the character and novels in the canon of contemporary crime fiction. In addition to the essays, this collection includes an original Reacher short story --- the first new Reacher appearance entirely written by Lee Child since 2019.

Robert Galbraith, author of The Hallmarked Man: A Cormoran Strike Novel

A dismembered corpse is discovered in the vault of a silver shop. The police initially believe it to be that of a convicted armed robber --- but not everyone agrees with that theory. One of them is Decima Mullins, who calls on the help of private detective Cormoran Strike as she's certain the body in the silver vault was that of her boyfriend --- the father of her newborn baby --- who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. The more Strike and his business partner, Robin Ellacott, delve into the case, the more labyrinthine it gets. The silver shop is no ordinary one: it's located beside Freemasons' Hall and specializes in Masonic silverware. And in addition to the armed robber and Decima's boyfriend, it becomes clear that there are other missing men who could fit the profile of the body in the vault.

Ian McEwan, author of What We Can Know

2014: At a dinner for close friends and colleagues, renowned poet Francis Blundy honors his wife’s birthday by reading aloud a new poem dedicated to her, “A Corona for Vivien.” Little does anyone gathered around the candlelit table know that for generations to come, people will speculate about the message of this poem, a copy of which has never been found and remains an enduring mystery. 2119: Just over 100 years in the future, much of the western world has been submerged by rising seas following a catastrophic nuclear accident. Thomas Metcalfe, a lonely scholar and researcher, longs for the early 21st century as he chases the ghost of one poem, “A Corona for Vivien.” When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the elusive poem’s discovery, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a brutal crime that destroys his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.

Editorial Content for Famous

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Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Originally self-published in 2010 and now re-released in a new edition, FAMOUS is a timely novel that fits perfectly in the celebrity-obsessed times in which we live. This quick and propulsive read will be made into a film starring Zac Efron.

What really makes the book ring so true is not Blake Crouch’s top-notch writing, but that he has penned a story that readers probably will think they have seen before, only to finish with a plot twist that left me thinking hard about all that I had just read. Read More

Teaser

Meet Lance. Thirty-eight years old. Works a meaningless job. Still lives above his parents’ garage. By all accounts, a world-class loser. Save for one glaring exception: He has a million-dollar face. Lance has been mistaken 87 times for the Oscar-winning movie star James Jansen, and for the last 10 years, he has saved his money and studied Jansen’s films, his moves, his idiosyncrasies --- even the way he speaks. Now, after an unceremonious termination from his job, Lance has decided that the time has come to go after his dream of truly becoming Jansen. From New York’s avant-garde, off-off Broadway scene to the glitter of Los Angeles, Lance embarks on a journey toward becoming James Jansen that will take him closer to the star than even he had dreamed --- and to darker lengths than he could’ve possibly imagined.

Promo

Meet Lance. Thirty-eight years old. Works a meaningless job. Still lives above his parents’ garage. By all accounts, a world-class loser. Save for one glaring exception: He has a million-dollar face. Lance has been mistaken 87 times for the Oscar-winning movie star James Jansen, and for the last 10 years, he has saved his money and studied Jansen’s films, his moves, his idiosyncrasies --- even the way he speaks. Now, after an unceremonious termination from his job, Lance has decided that the time has come to go after his dream of truly becoming Jansen. From New York’s avant-garde, off-off Broadway scene to the glitter of Los Angeles, Lance embarks on a journey toward becoming James Jansen that will take him closer to the star than even he had dreamed --- and to darker lengths than he could’ve possibly imagined.

About the Book

A man goes to terrifying extremes to adopt his celebrity doppelgänger's life in this darkly comedic psychological suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of DARK MATTER and UPGRADE.

The basis for the upcoming A24 film Famous, starring Zac Efron.

“My name is Lancelot Blue Dunkquist, and the best thing about me is, when you doll me up right, I look just like the movie star James Jansen.”

Meet Lance. Thirty-eight years old. Works a meaningless job. Still lives above his parents’ garage. By all accounts, a world-class loser. Save for one glaring exception: He has a million-dollar face.

Lance has been mistaken 87 times for the Oscar-winning movie star James Jansen, and for the last 10 years, he’s saved his money and studied Jansen’s films, his moves, his idiosyncrasies --- even the way he speaks. Now, after an unceremonious termination from his job, Lance has decided that the time has come to go after his dream of truly becoming Jansen.

From New York’s avant-garde, off-off Broadway scene to the glitter of Los Angeles, Lance embarks on a journey toward becoming James Jansen that will take him closer to the star than even he had dreamed --- and to darker lengths than he could’ve possibly imagined.

Shot through with dark humor and building to a truly shocking conclusion, FAMOUS is a scary, surprising, genre-blending thrill ride as only Blake Crouch can deliver.

Audiobook available, read by Johnathan McClain

Editorial Content for The Killer Question

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Dubbed “the new queen of crime” by Electric Literature, Janice Hallett returns with another epistolary puzzle of a novel. Read More

Teaser

Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered, where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes --- that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round...every week. Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation that meant they had to leave town --- and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them. Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew, Dominic, is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?

Promo

Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered, where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes --- that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round...every week. Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation that meant they had to leave town --- and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them. Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew, Dominic, is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?

About the Book

Janice Hallett, “the new queen of crime” (Electric Literature), returns with a fresh, edge-of-your-seat mystery that takes place at a pub’s weekly trivia night, revealed through quiz categories, phone messages and email correspondence.

Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes --- that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round...every week.

Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation which meant they had to leave town --- and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them.

Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew Dominic is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?

Audiobook available, read by a full cast

Editorial Content for The Guest in Room 120

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

A ghostwriter for years, Zoe Finch finally has written her own book. She also has a contract for a second romance novel but is facing a looming deadline and feels hopelessly blocked. When she reads about a writers’ conference coming up soon at the historic Moana Hotel in Honolulu, she books a flight immediately. There is only one room left, #120. Zoe snaps it up, feeling fortunate to get in at all. Read More

Teaser

1905: As the mother of a university and a woman with an iron will, Jane Stanford has made her share of enemies. After a scare at her mansion in San Francisco and on the advice of her doctor, she flees to Honolulu and the fashionable new Moana hotel. But as fate would have it, the island is not as safe as it seems. 2005: Zoe Finch is a bestselling author who desperately needs a jump-start on her next novel, and she makes a split decision to attend a writers' conference at the Moana under an assumed name. As a storm brews offshore, she begins having nightmares that feel hauntingly real. Terrified, Zoe enlists the help of mystery writer Dylan Winters and, over the course of the week, races to uncover the shocking truth of what happened in the hotel 100 years ago almost to the day.

Promo

1905: As the mother of a university and a woman with an iron will, Jane Stanford has made her share of enemies. After a scare at her mansion in San Francisco and on the advice of her doctor, she flees to Honolulu and the fashionable new Moana hotel. But as fate would have it, the island is not as safe as it seems. 2005: Zoe Finch is a bestselling author who desperately needs a jump-start on her next novel, and she makes a split decision to attend a writers' conference at the Moana under an assumed name. As a storm brews offshore, she begins having nightmares that feel hauntingly real. Terrified, Zoe enlists the help of mystery writer Dylan Winters and, over the course of the week, races to uncover the shocking truth of what happened in the hotel 100 years ago almost to the day.

About the Book

From USA Today bestselling author Sara Ackerman comes a spellbinding dual-timeline novel set at Honolulu’s iconic Moana Hotel, where a real-life mysterious death in 1905 collides with a writer’s search for the truth 100 years later. For fans of Ariel Lawhon and Fiona Davis.

1905As the mother of a university and a woman with an iron will, Jane Stanford has made her share of enemies. After a scare at her mansion in San Francisco and on the advice of her doctor, she flees to Honolulu and the fashionable new Moana hotel. But as fate would have it, the island is not as safe as it seems.

2005Zoe Finch is a bestselling author who desperately needs a jump-start on her next novel, and she makes a split decision to attend a writers' conference at the Moana under an assumed name. As a storm brews offshore, she begins having nightmares that feel hauntingly real. Terrified, Zoe enlists the help of mystery writer Dylan Winters and, over the course of the week, races to uncover the shocking truth of what happened in the hotel one hundred years ago almost to the day.

1905‘Iliahi Baldwin’s life changes the moment she lands a job at the Moana. Newly hired and reeling from a tragic loss, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the formidable Jane Stanford upon her arrival, which leaves young ‘Ili devastated when the unthinkable happens. ‘Ili knows things, but there are powerful people who need the truth to remain hidden, and to cross them could prove disastrous.

Inspired by the incredible true story of one of America’s most mysterious deaths, this is an unforgettable tale of betrayal and secrets that still echoes through the years.

Audiobook available, read by Jennifer Robideau 

Editorial Content for Hot Desk

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Reviewer (text)

Roberta O'Hara

Laura Dickerman’s debut novel was written for readers and devotees of the publishing industry. Rife with literary references, HOT DESK introduces us to characters who live in the world of competing imprints, literary giants, and the editors who vie for their latest writings, if not their entire catalogs. Read More

Teaser

In the post-pandemic publishing industry, two rival editors are forced to share a “hot desk” on different days of the week, much to their chagrin. Having never set eyes on each other, Rebecca Blume and Ben Heath begin leaving passive-aggressive Post-it notes on the pot of their shared cactus. But when revered literary legend Edward David Adams (known as “the Lion”) dies, leaving his estate up for grabs, their banter escalates as both work feverishly to land this career-making opportunity. As their battle for the estate gets more heated, Rebecca learns of a connection between her mother, Jane, and the Lion. The story travels back four decades earlier to when Jane arrives in Manhattan and meets Rose, soon her best friend. But one fateful day during the April blizzard of 1982 will change the course of Jane’s life, and their friendship, forever.

Promo

In the post-pandemic publishing industry, two rival editors are forced to share a “hot desk” on different days of the week, much to their chagrin. Having never set eyes on each other, Rebecca Blume and Ben Heath begin leaving passive-aggressive Post-it notes on the pot of their shared cactus. But when revered literary legend Edward David Adams (known as “the Lion”) dies, leaving his estate up for grabs, their banter escalates as both work feverishly to land this career-making opportunity. As their battle for the estate gets more heated, Rebecca learns of a connection between her mother, Jane, and the Lion. The story travels back four decades earlier to when Jane arrives in Manhattan and meets Rose, soon her best friend. But one fateful day during the April blizzard of 1982 will change the course of Jane’s life, and their friendship, forever.

About the Book

"Younger" meets WRITERS & LOVERS in this rollicking, sparkling and funny novel that spans decades and generations of a family in the publishing industry.

In the post-pandemic publishing industry, two rival editors are forced to share a “hot desk” on different days of the week, much to their chagrin. Having never set eyes on each other, Rebecca Blume and Ben Heath begin leaving passive-aggressive Post-it notes on the pot of their shared cactus. But when revered literary legend Edward David Adams (known as “the Lion”) dies, leaving his estate up for grabs, their banter escalates as both work feverishly to land this career-making opportunity. Their fierce rivalry ultimately forces each to decide how far they’ll go to get ahead, what role they want to play in the Lion’s legacy, and what they mean to each other.

As their battle for the estate gets more heated, Rebecca learns of a connection between her mother, Jane, and the Lion. The story travels back four decades earlier to when Jane arrives in Manhattan and meets Rose, soon her best friend. Jane and Rose are two strong, talented young women trying to make their mark in the publishing world at a time when art, the written word, and creative expression were at their height. But one fateful day during the April blizzard of 1982 will change the course of Jane’s life, and of their friendship, forever.

Audiobook available; read by Corey Brill, Cassandra Campbell and Renata Friedman

Editorial Content for One of Us

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Reviewer (text)

Harvey Freedenberg

In novels like ILL WILL and SLEEPWALK, Dan Chaon has shown that he is adept at blending classic elements of mystery and suspense with fine writing. His latest, ONE OF US, carries on in that vein. The result is a heartfelt story about an improbable sort of family, linked to an absorbing thriller plot. Read More

Teaser

It’s 1915, and life is falling apart for 13-year-old twins Bolt and Eleanor. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee. Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril that will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.

Promo

It’s 1915, and life is falling apart for 13-year-old twins Bolt and Eleanor. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee. Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril that will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.

About the Book

A playfully macabre and utterly thrilling tale about orphaned twins on the run from their murderous uncle who find refuge in a bizarre traveling carnival, from master of literary horror Dan Chaon.

It’s 1915, and the world is transforming. But for 13-year-old Bolt and Eleanor --- twins so close they can literally read each other’s minds --- life is falling apart. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie, the only kin they have left. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee.

Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders and father to its many members. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. There’s Minnie, the three-legged lady, and Dr. Chui, who stands over seven feet tall; Thistle Britches, the clown with no nose, and Rosalie, who can foretell the death of anyone she meets.

After a lifetime of having only each other, Eleanor and Bolt are finally part of something bigger. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril as strange as it is terrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.

An ode to the misfits and the marginalized, ONE OF US is a riotous and singularly creepy celebration of the strange and the spectacular and of family in its many forms.

Audiobook available, read by John Pirhalla and Stephanie Németh-Parker