Adult

Mike Piazza’s autobiography is the candid story of the greatest hitting catcher in the history of baseball, from his inauspicious draft selection to his Hall of Fame-worthy achievements and the unusual controversies that marked his career. He addresses the steroid controversy that hovered around him and Major League Baseball during his time and describes the thrill of his game-winning home run on September 21, 2001.

The people who orbit around actor Renn Ivins --- his girlfriends, children, ex-wives, those on the periphery --- long to experience the glow of his fame. Anna and Will are Renn's grown children, struggling to be authentic versions of themselves in a world where they are seen as less important extensions of their father. They are both drawn to and repelled by the man who overshadows every part of them.

Harry and Madeleine Winslow share a love that is both envied and admired. One weekend at the start of the summer season, Harry and Maddy meet Claire and cannot help but be enchanted by her winsome youth, quiet intelligence, and disarming naivete. Drawn by the Winslows' inscrutable magnetism, Claire eagerly falls into their welcoming orbit. But over the course of the summer, her reverence transforms into a dangerous desire.

Blending confessional criticism and anthropological autobiography, David Shields explores the power of literature to make life survivable, maybe even endurable. He evokes his deeply divided personality, character flaws, woes, and serious despairs. Books are his life, but when they come to feel unlifelike and archaic, he revels in a new kind of art that is based heavily on quotation and consciousness and self-consciousness.

Art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her tobacco farm, were actually the work of Josephine, Lu Anne’s 17-year-old house slave. In piecing together Josephine's story, ambitious young lawyer Lina Sparrow embarks on a journey that will lead her to question her own life, including the full story of her mother's mysterious death.

Finished in 1947 and lost to readers until now, HOUSE OF EARTH is Woody Guthrie's only fully-realized novel --- a powerful portrait of Dust Bowl America, filled with the homespun lyricism and authenticity that have made his songs a part of our national consciousness. It is the story of an ordinary couple's dreams of a better life and their search for love and meaning in a corrupt world.

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block brings back his hit man, Keller, in this fifth book of the series. Keller’s life might have changed for the better with his new wife and life in a new city, but he still practices his dark side profession in five new assignments that take him everywhere from a West Indies cruise to his old haunts in New York City.

Louis Kincaid’s vacation with his 10-year-old daughter is cut short when Lily takes a fall onto a pile of old bones in an abandoned hunting lodge. His reluctance to take on the case grows when he discovers that the state investigator is Norm Rafsky, who had worked with Louis’s girlfriend Joe Frye 15 years ago. When Joe returns to the island to help, she and Louis must confront the simmering tension between her and Rafsky, and yet stay focused on finding a dangerous killer who still may be in the area.

A remote English village wakes on the morning after harvest, looking forward to enjoying a hard-earned day of rest and feasting. But two mysterious columns of smoke mar the sky, raising alarm and suspicion. One fire is a signal sent by newcomers; the other comes from a blaze set in Master Kent's stables. The newcomers are blamed for the stable fire and are punished for their crimes. Justice has been served. Or has it? Another newcomer appears and begins to take notes of the village's lands, and it is his presence more than any other that will threaten the village's entire way of life.

A backyard renovation unearths an infant’s body, buried 60 years ago. Soon thereafter in a nearby park, another disturbingly bizarre discovery is made not far from the body of a young woman shot in the head. Helping LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis to link these eerie incidents is brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. But even the good doctor’s vast experience with matters both clinical and criminal might not be enough to cut down to the bone of this chilling case --- and draw out the disturbing truth.