Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow

February 2025

PRESUMED GUILTY is Scott Turow’s third book featuring Rusty Sabich as his protagonist. Many of us remember reading PRESUMED INNOCENT and INNOCENT, so I was happy to catch up with this iconic character again.

Rusty is now 77, living in a quiet town and working his way towards retirement. He’s in a relationship with a woman he wants to marry, and life is looking good. Bea has a son, Aaron, who she adopted as a baby. Aaron has been through some tough times, but he’s getting his life in gear and on the right track. Until he’s charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Mae, the daughter of the local prosecutor. Aaron is a Black man being brought up in an all-white community --- and prejudice will rear its head here.

Read more »

Dear Sister: A Memoir of Secrets, Survival, and Unbreakable Bonds by Michelle Horton

February 2025

I read DEAR SISTER last fall as I prepared for an interview at the Morristown Festival of Books with its author, Michelle Horton. I always thought that if a person killed someone in self-defense, he or she would be acquitted. I was so far off the mark.

Michelle writes about her sister, Nikki, who was in an abusive relationship for nine years. When her partner went to shoot Nikki and himself, which would make their children orphans, Nikki grabbed the gun and shot him. She had hidden the abuse from her family, masking it with long sleeves and excuses for her various wounds. But she confided in friends who were there to support her.

Read more »

Week of February 24, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of February 24th include LONG ISLAND, a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of BROOKLYN, Colm Tóibín’s most popular work in 20 years; AFTER ANNIE by Anna Quindlen, whose trademark wisdom on family, friendship and the ties that bind us are at the center of her novel, which is about   the power of love to transcend loss and triumph over adversity; GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE, a disarmingly witty and poignant memoir that explores multiple kinds of loss following the death of Sloane Crosley’s closest friend; David Grann's THE WAGER, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth; and WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA? by Dervla McTiernan, an emotional novel of suspense about two families pitted against each other --- one seeking justice in the disappearance of their daughter, the other desperate to clear their son’s name. 

Read more »

Week of February 17, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of February 17th include WANDERING STARS, a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, in which Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family; A DEATH IN CORNWALL, the 24th installment in Daniel Silva’s action-packed Gabriel Allon series, which finds the art restorer and legendary spy pursuing a powerful and dangerous new adversary when an old friend seeks his help with a baffling murder investigation; SHELTERWOOD by Lisa Wingate, a sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth; and the paperback original THE DRESSMAKERS OF LONDON, a heartfelt work of fiction from Julia Kelly about estranged sisters who inherit their late mother’s dress shop in World War II London.

Read more »

Week of February 10, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of February 10th include A CALAMITY OF SOULS by David Baldacci, a courtroom drama set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, where a racially charged murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully accused Black client; Vanessa Chan's THE STORM WE MADE, a spellbinding novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII --- and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family; THE SECRET LIVES OF BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, a compilation of stories from various booksellers and librarians who talk about the book business; and SLOW NOODLES, a haunting memoir from Chantha Nguon, a Cambodian refugee who lost her country and her family during Pol Pot's genocide in the 1970s but found hope by reclaiming the recipes she tasted in her mother's kitchen.

Read more »

Week of February 3, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of February 3rd include THE COMFORT OF GHOSTS, the final installment in Jacqueline Winspear's groundbreaking series starring psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs, who unravels a profound mystery from her past in a war-torn nation grappling with its future; THIS IS WHY WE LIED, Karin Slaughter's 12th thriller featuring GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, whose honeymoon is interrupted by a bone-chilling scream that cuts through the night; EXPIRATION DATES by Rebecca Serle, a gripping, emotional, passionate and heartbreaking novel   about a young woman who decides to finally live for herself rather than rely on the universe for answers;   and THE MANY LIVES OF MAMA LOVE, a harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir from Lara Love Hardin, who recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter.

Read more »

February 2025

February's Books on Screen roundup includes the season premieres of Prime Video's "Reacher" and Netflix's "Sweet Magnolias"; the season finale of "Dexter: Original Sin" on Paramount+; the films Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy on Peacock and Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery on Hallmark Mystery, along with The Monkey and The Unbreakable Boy in theaters; the continuation of CBS's "Tracker" and "Watson" (both return February 16th), in addition to ABC's "Will Trent" and Hallmark Channel's "When Calls the Heart"; the series premiere of "Apple Cider Vinegar" on Netflix; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of Wicked; The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim; Oh, Canada; and Across the River and Into the Trees.

Read more »