What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

April 2022

I am going on the record here: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BENNETTS is Lisa Scottoline’s best thriller! It is fast-paced with so many twists and turns, and I felt like something important to furthering the plot happened on every page.

The Bennetts are a happy family on their way home from their daughter’s lacrosse game, merrily talking about it. A pickup truck is tailing them way too closely. They slow down, but it keeps coming, and then it flies around them and stops. Two men leap from the vehicle, and it feels like a carjacking. There’s gunfire, and by the time it’s done, one of the Bennetts is dead and so is one of the gunmen. What just happened? This is only page nine. When the grieving Bennetts get home that night, there is a knock on the door. Two FBI agents tell them that they need to be moved into protective custody. This is page 29, and the action keeps up like that right until the end. Whew!

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The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan

April 2022

THE LONG WEEKEND by Gilly Macmillan is a truly terrific locked-room thriller. Three women head out of town a day in advance of their husbands for an annual weekend getaway at a secluded location. When they arrive, they receive a note that one of their husbands has been killed. It is signed “E,” the fourth woman who usually joins them. She is skipping this year as her husband died, and she is not comfortable hanging out with the usual group of couples.

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Books Mom Will Love 2022

Mother’s Day is a time to recognize the woman who raised and nurtured us. To celebrate, we gave you the opportunity to win eight books for you or the special lady in your life in our 17th annual "Books Mom Will Love" contest. Scroll down to see the five winners!

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Week of April 25, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of April 25th include BETTER OFF DEAD, a page-turning thriller from Lee Child and Andrew Child that finds Jack Reacher facing the riskiest job of his life when an army veteran turned FBI agent asks him to locate her twin brother, who might be mixed up with some very dangerous people; OH WILLIAM!, in which Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they’ve come from --- and what they’ve left behind; HELL AND OTHER DESTINATIONS, a revealing, funny and inspiring memoir from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who reflects on the challenge of continuing one’s career far beyond the normal age of retirement; COME FLY THE WORLD, Julia Cooke's fascinating account of the lives of the jet-age stewardesses of Pan Am between 1966 and 1975; and THREE DREAMERS, Lorenzo Carcaterra's heartfelt homage to the women who taught him courage, kindness and the power of storytelling: his mother, his grandmother and his late wife.

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Week of April 18, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of April 18th include THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller, a story of summer, secrets, love and lies, in which one woman --- over the course of a singular day on Cape Cod --- must make a life-changing decision that has been brewing for decades; FALSE WITNESS, a stand-alone thriller from Karin Slaughter that introduces readers to an up-and-coming defense attorney who has worked hard to put her nightmarish childhood behind her --- but now her devastating past is starting to catch up to her, and time is running out; Nancy Thayer's FAMILY REUNION, a magicial, multigenerational novel about a longtime Nantucket resident who is trying to make the best of a lonely summer, and her spirited granddaughter who is learning what she wants out of life; and Rachel Cusk's electrifying novel, SECOND PLACE, a study of female fate and male privilege, the geometries of human relationships, and the moral questions that animate our lives.

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Week of April 11, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of April 11th include THE HUSBANDS by Chandler Baker, a smart, sharp and timely novel that imagines a world where the burden of the “second shift” is equally shared --- and what it might take to get there; Chris Whitaker's WE BEGIN AT THE END, an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families --- the ones we are born into and the ones we create; A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN, a literary master class courtesy of George Saunders on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves --- and our world today; THIS CLOSE TO OKAY by Leesa Cross-Smith, a powerful, vibrant novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers; and RUBY FALLS, Deborah Goodrich Royce’s nail-biting tale of a fragile young actress, the new husband she barely knows, and her growing suspicion that the secrets he harbors may eclipse her own. 

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Week of April 4, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of April 4th include THAT SUMMER by Jennifer Weiner, a timely and deliciously twisty novel of intrigue, secrets and the transformative power of female friendship; Michael Connelly's masterful thriller, THE DARK HOURS, in which LAPD detective Renée Ballard joins forces with Harry Bosch to find justice in a city scarred by fear and social unrest after a methodical killer strikes on New Year’s Eve; WHEN THE STARS GO DARK, an atmospheric novel of intertwined destinies and heart-wrenching suspense from Paula McLain; Joshilyn Jackson's MOTHER MAY I, an addictive novel of domestic suspense in which a mother must decide how far she is willing to go to protect her child and the life she loves; and SURVIVING SAVANNAH, a breathtaking work of historical fiction from Patti Callahan that revolves around the luxury steamship Pulaski (“The Titanic of the South," as it was called) that sank in 1838 with Savannah's elite on board.

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And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser and protector. Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff's deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

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David R. Gillham, author of Shadows of Berlin

1955 in New York City: the city of instant coffee, bagels at Katz's Deli, new-fangled TVs. But in the Perlmans' walk-up in Chelsea, the past is as close as the present. Rachel came to Manhattan in a wave of displaced Jews who managed to survive the horrors of war. Her Uncle Fritz fleeing with her, Rachel hoped to find freedom from her pain in New York and in the arms of her new American husband, Aaron.

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Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat’s single mother warned her that the world was a dark and scary place. Bree rejected her mother’s fearful outlook, and life has proved her right. Marrying into a family with wealth, power and connections, Bree has all a woman could ever dream: a loving lawyer husband, two talented young teenage daughters, a new baby boy, a gorgeous home, and every opportunity in the world.

Until the day Bree awakens and sees a witch peering into her bedroom window, an old gray-haired woman all dressed in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears. It must be a play of the early morning light or the remnant of a waking dream, Bree tells herself, shaking off the bad feeling that overcomes her.

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