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Editorial Content for Cinnamon Girl: A Pacific Coast Highway Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Megan Elliott

Daniel Weizmann’s unlikely Lyft-driving detective, Adam “Addy” Zantz, returns in CINNAMON GIRL, the twisty follow-up to his 2023 neo-noir, THE LAST SONGBIRD. Once again, Addy finds himself entangled in a case with musical overtones, this time when he’s tasked with investigating the murder of a teen active in LA’s mid-’80s Paisley Underground music scene. Read More

Teaser

Adam Zantz is still driving for Lyft, struggling to make ends meet, when his beloved former piano teacher makes a deathbed request: He wants Zantz to prove his son’s innocence in a decades-earlier murder case. There doesn’t seem to be much hope of solving such a cold case --- until Zantz stumbles onto a test pressing of a never-released vinyl LP. The recording is of a high school garage band lost to the tides of the Paisley Underground, the acid-fueled early ’80s music scene that spawned the Bangles and the Three O'Clock. Down the psychedelic rabbit hole Adam falls, tracing the band's journey from the middle-class garage to the precipice of fame --- a twisted tale marked by crooked DJs, elder-scammers, wellness hucksters, a teen cult, and the woman who held the key to the band’s triumph and ruin.

Promo

Adam Zantz is still driving for Lyft, struggling to make ends meet, when his beloved former piano teacher makes a deathbed request: He wants Zantz to prove his son’s innocence in a decades-earlier murder case. There doesn’t seem to be much hope of solving such a cold case --- until Zantz stumbles onto a test pressing of a never-released vinyl LP. The recording is of a high school garage band lost to the tides of the Paisley Underground, the acid-fueled early ’80s music scene that spawned the Bangles and the Three O'Clock. Down the psychedelic rabbit hole Adam falls, tracing the band's journey from the middle-class garage to the precipice of fame --- a twisted tale marked by crooked DJs, elder-scammers, wellness hucksters, a teen cult, and the woman who held the key to the band’s triumph and ruin.

About the Book

From the author of the acclaimed THE LAST SONGBIRD, Lyft driver-turned-sleuth Adam Zantz returns in a neo-noir dive into the dark side of LA’s rock scene.

Adam Zantz is still driving for Lyft, struggling to make ends meet, when his beloved former piano teacher makes a deathbed request: He wants Zantz to prove his son’s innocence in a decades-earlier murder case.

There doesn’t seem to be much hope of solving such a cold case --- until Zantz stumbles onto a test pressing of a never-released vinyl LP. The recording is of a high school garage band lost to the tides of the Paisley Underground, the acid-fueled early ’80s music scene that spawned the Bangles and the Three O'Clock.

Down the psychedelic rabbit hole Adam falls, tracing the band's journey from the middle-class garage to the precipice of fame --- a twisted tale marked by crooked DJs, elder-scammers, wellness hucksters, a teen cult, and the woman who held the key to the band’s triumph and ruin.

One part Raymond Chandler, one part Ziggy Stardust, CINNAMON GIRL is both an indelible, moving portrait of Los Angeles, and a suspenseful tale of greed, lust, betrayal and the hidden price of teenage yearning.

Editorial Content for Love Is a Burning Thing: A Memoir

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

At the very start of LOVE IS A BURNING THING, Nina St. Pierre reminds her readers that a memoir is not an autobiography but instead “a curated work of memory.” Her memories, she explains, have been curated in order to answer the question that has haunted her: “What was happening with my mother, and why didn’t, or couldn’t, I understand?” While many memoirs center on reflection or even explanation, St. Pierre’s does indeed focus on an attempt to understand. Read More

Teaser

Ten years before Nina was born, her mother lit herself on fire in a dual suicide attempt. During her recovery in the burn-unit, a nurse initiated her into Transcendental Meditation. From that day on, her mother's pain became intertwined with the pursuit of enlightenment. Growing up, Nina longed for a normal life; instead, she and her brother were at the whims of their mother, who chased ascension up and down the state of California, swapping out spiritual practices as often as apartments. When they finally settled at the foot of a mountain --- reputed to be cosmic --- in Northern California, Nina hoped life would stabilize. But after another fire, and a tragic fallout, she was forced to confront the shadow side of her mother's mystical narratives. With obsessive dedication, Nina began to knit together the truth that eventually would release her.

Promo

Ten years before Nina was born, her mother lit herself on fire in a dual suicide attempt. During her recovery in the burn-unit, a nurse initiated her into Transcendental Meditation. From that day on, her mother's pain became intertwined with the pursuit of enlightenment. Growing up, Nina longed for a normal life; instead, she and her brother were at the whims of their mother, who chased ascension up and down the state of California, swapping out spiritual practices as often as apartments. When they finally settled at the foot of a mountain --- reputed to be cosmic --- in Northern California, Nina hoped life would stabilize. But after another fire, and a tragic fallout, she was forced to confront the shadow side of her mother's mystical narratives. With obsessive dedication, Nina began to knit together the truth that eventually would release her.

About the Book

A riveting memoir about a daughter’s investigation into the wirings of her loving, unpredictable mother: a woman who lived her life in pursuit of the divine, and who started two big fires, decades apart.

Ten years before Nina was born, her mother lit herself on fire in a dual suicide attempt. During her recovery in the burn-unit, a nurse initiated her into Transcendental Meditation. From that day on, her mother's pain became intertwined with the pursuit of enlightenment.

Growing up, Nina longed for a normal life; instead, she and her brother were at the whims of their mother, who chased ascension up and down the state of California, swapping out spiritual practices as often as apartments. When they finally settled at the foot of a mountain --- reputed to be cosmic --- in Northern California, Nina hoped life would stabilize. But after another fire, and a tragic fallout, she was forced to confront the shadow side of her mother's mystical narratives. With obsessive dedication, Nina began to knit together the truth that eventually would release her.

In LOVE IS A BURNING THING, Nina interrogates what happens to those undiagnosed and unseen. This is a transfixing, moving portrait of a mother-daughter relationship that also examines mental health, stigma, poverty and gender --- and the role that spirituality plays within each. Nina’s writing skirts the mystical, untangles it and ultimately illuminates it with brilliance.

Audiobook available, read by Nina St. Pierre

Editorial Content for The Man on the Train

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Debbie Babitt follows up SAVING GRACE and FIRST VICTIM with another engaging psychological thriller. At the start of THE MAN ON THE TRAIN, a body is being pulled from the ocean. This individual played an instrumental role in a horrendous crime that took place on eastern Long Island in 1984. Read More

Teaser

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Haley has no idea that her husband has been living a secret life. Now Guy is the prime suspect in a brutal murder that could derail Linda’s high-powered career and may be connected to a cold case. And Guy has disappeared. With a warrant out for her husband’s arrest, Linda sets out to prove his innocence accompanied by an ex-cop who harbors a secret affection for her. Together, they travel to the scene of a 40-year-old unsolved murder and a night of violence that shattered the serenity of a small fishing hamlet just past the Hamptons. But as the manhunt intensifies and she begins to uncover the shocking truth --- and the past Guy has buried deep --- Linda must decide if the stranger she married is innocent or guilty. And if he truly deserves to be saved.

Promo

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Haley has no idea that her husband has been living a secret life. Now Guy is the prime suspect in a brutal murder that could derail Linda’s high-powered career and may be connected to a cold case. And Guy has disappeared. With a warrant out for her husband’s arrest, Linda sets out to prove his innocence accompanied by an ex-cop who harbors a secret affection for her. Together, they travel to the scene of a 40-year-old unsolved murder and a night of violence that shattered the serenity of a small fishing hamlet just past the Hamptons. But as the manhunt intensifies and she begins to uncover the shocking truth --- and the past Guy has buried deep --- Linda must decide if the stranger she married is innocent or guilty. And if he truly deserves to be saved.

About the Book

One man is about to have a midlife crisis like no man has ever had before. But for his wife, the nightmare is just beginning.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Haley is awakened early one morning by two police officers at the door. She has no idea that her husband has been living a secret life during his daily commute from Scarsdale into the city. Now Guy is the prime suspect in a brutal murder that could derail Linda’s high-powered career and may be connected to a cold case.

And Guy has disappeared.

With a warrant out for her husband’s arrest, Linda sets out to prove his innocence accompanied by an ex-cop who harbors a secret affection for her. Together, they travel to the scene of a 40-year-old unsolved murder and a night of violence that shattered the serenity of a small fishing hamlet just past the Hamptons.

But as the manhunt intensifies and she begins to uncover the shocking truth --- and the past Guy has buried deep --- Linda must decide if the stranger she married is innocent or guilty. And if he truly deserves to be saved.

Featuring tense, atmospheric suspense that moves at breakneck speed, this Hitchcockian thriller careens from a bedroom community just north of New York City to the picturesque beaches of eastern Long Island to a suburban train station, where a killer hiding in plain sight waits to exact a final revenge.

Author Talk: Stuart Turton, author of The Last Murder at the End of the World

May 31, 2024

Stuart Turton, the bestselling author of THE 7½ DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE and THE DEVIL AND THE DARK WATER, is back with an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop and an audacious solution. In this interview, Turton talks about his inspiration for THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD, why isolated settings appeal to him so much, his favorite character in the book, and what he has in mind for his fourth thriller.

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris

May 2024

I was not familiar with heir property before I heard Terah Shelton Harris talk about it at a book preview event as she discussed her new novel, LONG AFTER WE ARE GONE. I found myself intrigued by this idea of land that was bought by Black people during the time of Reconstruction. These properties often were held by entire families and passed from generation to generation, but without much in the way of printed documents. Many times, the land was in areas that were swampy or near water, which was not considered desirable as people wanted property that could be farmed. As a result of the scant paperwork, there have been lots of ways for developers to try to lay claim to this land.

May 31, 2024

As planned last weekend, I did a lot of garden work. On Sunday, I spent seven hours in the garden mostly doing container planting. But somehow, I also managed to get poison ivy on the inside of two fingers on my right hand when I touched something in one of the gardens. It is cross-eyed painful and has made typing pretty challenging. I will do a product shout-out here. Zanfel really works; I should have remembered this and bought it as soon as I was infected. Actually, I should just buy it at the start of every season since I am so allergic!

Interview: Daniel Weizmann, author of Cinnamon Girl: A Pacific Coast Highway Mystery

May 30, 2024

Lyft driver-turned-sleuth Adam Zantz returns in CINNAMON GIRL, a neo-noir dive into the dark side of LA’s rock scene. In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House, Daniel Weizmann explains how his approach to writing this book differed from that of his debut mystery, THE LAST SONGBIRD, which kicked off the Pacific Coast Highway series. He also talks about a couple of adjustments he made to his protagonist for this second installment, the musicians who have helped influence his writing, and what readers can expect for Adam’s third adventure.

William Kent Krueger Event Signup

May 28, 2024

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 27th and June 3rd 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 "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Three book groups will win up to 12 copies of GOOD NIGHT, IRENE, which releases in paperback on June 4th. In this New York Times bestselling novel, Luis Alberto Urrea delivers an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II. The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, June 12th at noon ET.

May 28, 2024

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we think is a great summer reading selection. Read more about it, and enter our Summer Reading Contest by Wednesday, May 29th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of I WILL RUIN YOU by Linwood Barclay, which is now available and is a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!