August 26, 2026

August 26, 2026

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PLEASE NOTE: We were unable to send this newsletter yesterday as a tech issue took the site offline. We apologize for the inconvenience!

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 24th and August 31st 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 current Word of Mouth contest. Let us know by Friday, September 11th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win two notable releases: BIG LITTLE TRUTHS by Liane Moriarty (which is now available and is next month's Reese's Book Club pick) and THE BIRTHING TREE by Amanda Peters (which releases on September 1st).

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This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest
Win a Copy of BIG LITTLE TRUTHS by Liane Moriarty
and THE BIRTHING TREE by Amanda Peters

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

On Sale the Week of August 24th in Hardcover

August 25th

BIG LITTLE TRUTHS by Liane Moriarty (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
The last time we saw the women of BIG LITTLE LIES, their children were five years old. Now they’re teenagers. When the high school principal receives a threatening package in the mail, word quickly spreads throughout the community. But Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie have other things to worry about. Celeste’s mother-in-law is behaving oddly. Madeline is facing perhaps the biggest challenge of her life. Jane is at a dangerous fork in her marriage. Bonnie has realized there’s only so much solace in yoga. And Renata is living her best life --- revenge is sweet. When a stranger begins lurking around the school asking supposedly innocent questions, this tightly connected group of women finally must face the full repercussions of the big little truths they have and haven’t shared with their kids.
Crown | 9780593798638 

BRONA: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks and Delilah S. Dawson (Fantasy)
Years have passed since Galaphile Joss and his life partner, Nirianne, established Paranor as a way to bring harmony to the Four Lands. Now their two sons are becoming men in a land of peace and plenty. Admittedly, it is a land that their eldest child, Abronja, finds rather boring. At 16, he longs for a way to prove himself --- a chance to show he is every bit the equal of his famous father. But when the excitement he has been longing for materializes, it is in the form of an old evil: a dark sorcerer whom his father had defeated but not destroyed. Abronja was conceived while the dark sorcerer had control of Nirianne, and Galaphile has always feared that a spark of malevolence lives on in his beloved child.
Del Rey | 9780593129838

CHILDREN OF WOLVES by Lawrence Osborne (Thriller)
Four children from wealthy families are sent to a strict prestigious boarding school for troubled teenagers. Haunted by the horrors they experience, they vow to disrupt the status quo by all means necessary. Years later, Tyler is a private investigator who has been hired by petrochemical billionaire James Arthur Knight Jr. to find his runaway daughter, Chana. At a seaside hotel in Turkey, he finds Chana lounging with her three wealthy friends and living with a fake name. Enthralled by Chana’s shyness and elegance, Tyler decides to keep his discovery to himself, accepting Mr. Knight’s payments while feeding him elusive information. One night, when Tyler lets slip his relationship with the American consul, Chana conjures a plot that sets into motion a dark chain of events.
S&S/Summit Books | 9781668226438

CROCODILOPOLIS by John Manuel Arias (Fiction) 
Once a powerful, cold-blooded politician in Costa Rica, Seth Oreamundo is now living in exile in Washington, DC --- and his younger brother, Osario, is to blame. Born into a corrupt political dynasty and raised on a seemingly idyllic coffee estate, the Oreamundo brothers were destined for greatness. But a dark family secret and a scandalous double crossing sent their lives into a tailspin, changing the country forever. Osario must pay, and Seth decides the only way to do so is to return home to Costa Rica and feed his brother to the infamous river of crocodiles from their childhood. What follows is a spellbinding story of revenge alternating between Seth's murderous plans and memories of the brothers' upbringing.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639738434 

DAGGERBOUND by T. Kingfisher (Fantasy/Romance)
Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, an alarmingly handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down. This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who has been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund. But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart.
Bramble | 9781250400086

DÈY by Edwidge Danticat (Fiction) 
“Is home the place where we are born? Or is it the place where we die?” These questions haunt Magnolia, a successful Haitian American real estate agent in Miami. When she hears gunfire while at a shopping mall, she takes shelter in a nearby restaurant. Once she’s safely home, Magnolia keeps this traumatic event from everyone. But given her life back, she begins to see everything clearly: her extraordinary bond with her daughter, Zoë; her nearly broken relationship with Zoë’s father; the challenges of her mentally troubled mother; and her father’s affair with a woman who has borne him a child. While struggling through the labyrinth of her past, Magnolia also must come to terms with the losses sustained that life-altering day, and nearly every day by her parents and sibling in Haiti.
Knopf | 9780593803523 

THE EVEREST MYSTERY: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory, and the Truth Still Buried on Everest by Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb (History)
There is no mystery more compelling in the history of mountaineering than the disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine close to the summit of Mount Everest on June 8, 1924. Over 100 years after they were last seen “going strong for the top,” the question of exactly what happened to them on that fateful day has not been answered. George Mallory’s frozen remains were discovered in 1999. But in September 2024, a climber found an old boot lying out in the open on the Central Rongbuk Glacier on Mount Everest. It contained a foot, and a sock bearing a nametape spelled out in red: A.C. IRVINE. Did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit, or did they perish while ascending? What happened to the camera that Irvine may have carried, which would have documented their climb?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250460820

FALLEN FOR FRANCE by Elizabeth Letts (Historical Fiction)
Beddou is six years old when he is sent off to apprentice far from his High Atlas village in Morocco. That same month, a magnificent filly is born. For a brief time, the mare belongs to the boy. But Beddou’s heart is broken when a soldier steals his horse and disappears into France just as the Great War roars to a start. Estelle, a young woman in France, finds a distressed Arabian mare wandering alone in the meadow. But soon she loses both the horse and her brother. Thomas is an Englishman hardened by his experience as a wartime veterinarian in France. He finds the mare and promises to protect her --- and the woman who once loved her --- but he doubts his own ability to keep anyone safe. The separate strands of these strangers’ journeys ultimately converge, propelling them to make momentous choices that will change the course of their lives.
Ballantine Books | 9780593496916 

HEART OF GLASS by Jennifer Hillier (Psychological Thriller)
Twenty-five years ago in Seaside, Washington, a charming drifter named Sam met three inseparable teenage girls at the local amusement park. Days later, one of them was found dead. Barb and Nicolette were shocked to learn that the man they all met at Wonderland was the Carnival Killer. After he's arrested for the murders of five young women --- one of whom was their best friend, Lorelei --- Nicolette moved to the city to pursue her dreams of being famous. Barb stayed behind in Seaside, eventually becoming a reporter for the local paper. But when the Carnival Killer recants his confession and a new body washes ashore on the eve of Wonderland’s grand reopening, the secrets that Barb and Nicolette have worked so hard to bury begin to resurface, threatening to destroy everything in their carefully constructed lives.
Minotaur Books | 9781250763181

LIFE OF M by Rachel Cusk (Fiction)
The movie star M is one of the most recognizable faces of our time. Her image is everywhere. It has been like that since she was a child. With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. M may live in the same places as real people. She may meet her friends or collect her children from school or walk her dogs as they do. But it seems the rules of reality have melted away. Now, a writer has decided to pay close attention to M’s life in the hope of understanding who she really is. It is hard not to feel ugly or insignificant next to M. But what truths --- about the very experience of living --- might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture?
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374618384 

NOT A WORD by Linwood Barclay (Psychological Thriller)
When Reece visits his parents’ house, he’s shocked to find them in bed, dead. At first glance it looks like a murder-suicide perpetrated by his father, but on closer inspection there’s clearly more to the story. For starters, inconsistencies in the crime scene suggest his dad may not have shot himself. As Reece, shaken by his horrifying discovery, awaits questioning from the police, his phone lights up with a call. It’s the last person he ever would have expected to hear from. Reeling from the day’s events, Reece finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew about his parents --- and whether he and his own family are in danger now. While the authorities work to untangle the baffling crime scene, Reece is pulled into a web of secrets linked to the unscrupulous pharma company his father worked for years ago.
William Morrow | 9780063276383

POST MORTEM written by David Lagercrantz, translated by Ian Giles (Mystery)
Professor Hans Rekke and police officer Micaela Vargas have earned a reputation for solving the unsolvable. But they’ve never been confronted by a serial killer. Until now. Rekke receives a visit from Spanish chief inspector Rafael Corales, who is unable to forget the brutal, unsolved murder of a young woman in Santander in 1988. Now other bodies have come to light, marked with signs that seem to be some kind of numerical order. Still recovering from his latest manic episode, his relationship with Vargas strained by a secret she’s keeping, Rekke agrees to help decipher these signs before the killer strikes again. The victim was an aspiring writer, and clues from her posthumously published short story about a stray dog draw Rekke and Vargas deep into the murk of Sweden’s literary scene.
Knopf | 9780593319253 

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ARTIFICIAL STATE by Jill Lepore (Current Affairs) 
Inspired by Hannah Arendt’s THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM, which argued in 1951 that the machinery of modern life was reshaping the very fundamentals of human existence, Jill Lepore --- profoundly disturbed by the technology revolution and by the soulless inundation of artificial intelligence --- unfurls a new history for our own 21st century. Building on an essay in The New Yorker in 2024, Lepore’s clarion call traces our increasing dependence on and strangulation by data. With Orwellian overtones, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ARTIFICIAL STATE demonstrates how technology has corroded global democracy, creating a new form of AI government, where AI will recommend the course of action to humans in place of human-run legislatures.
Liveright | 9781324098423 

THE SHADOW FRIENDS by Tess Gerritsen (Thriller)
When a renowned disease expert and Russian defector dies mysteriously during a global affairs conference in Purity, Maine, the tight-knit band of former spies in the Martini Club once again sees their quiet coastal retirement interrupted by international intrigue. And when a waitress at the conference hotel is found murdered, Ingrid Slocum sees chilling links to a disastrous mission that nearly killed her three decades ago. Desperate to uncover the truth, Ingrid is drawn back into the game by a magnetic ex-CIA colleague --- and former lover --- who was with her on the long-ago doomed mission. He convinces her to join him, and together they head to Amsterdam to track down her would-be killer. But a clandestine network of assassins is intent on stopping them.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662533419

THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE by Sarah Pinborough (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family. But after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place --- working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia. It seems that the only interesting thing about her new town is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman. Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity. But even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears.
Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar | 9781250436689

On Sale the Week of August 24th in Paperback

August 25th

THE ALPHABET SLEUTHS by Laura Jensen Walker (Mystery)
At 69 years old, Claire Reynolds is changing things up. She’s volunteering. She's learning to rollerblade. She’s rescued a shelter dog. And today, she’s killed a man. It wasn’t on her to-do list, but stuff happens. Besides, the man in question was strangling her good friend, Daphne, so what’s a gal to do? Scream, possibly. Call the cops. Or --- at retired officer Daphne’s insistence --- call in the rest of their senior gal pals, roll up the body in a blanket, and toss it off a cliff. The dead man is a member of the local crime family, and if the police get involved, it’s not just Daphne at risk, it’s all of them. But the body is just the start. Soon the Alphabet Girls --- Atsuko, Barbara, Claire and Daphne --- must transform into the Alphabet Sleuths if they’re to keep their liberty...and their lives.
Severn House | 9781448318964

THE ANSWER IS IN THE WOUND by Kelly Sundberg (Memoir/Essays)
Kelly Sundberg’s abusive marriage nearly broke her, and finding the courage to leave and begin the difficult process of putting herself back together was only the beginning of her story. THE ANSWER IS IN THE WOUND deftly explores the trials and joys Sundberg encountered not only as a newly single parent but also as someone in full pursuit of life. She developed an appreciation for new spiritual practices and reclaimed her body through tattoos. From erasure poetry crafted from emails and a court-mandated apology letter from her ex-husband, to engaging with the research of some of the most prominent voices in 50 years of trauma psychiatry and psychology, this book is a profound meditation on trauma and its lasting effects.
Grove Press | 9780802167637

BACKSTAGE: Stories of a Writing Life by Donna Leon (Memoir)
Donna Leon’s memoir, WANDERING THROUGH LIFE, gave her legions of fans a colorful tour through her life --- from her childhood in New Jersey to her adventures in China and Iran, to her love of Venice and opera. Nowhere, however, did she discuss her writing life. In BACKSTAGE, Donna reveals her admiration for, and inspiration from, the great crime novelists Ruth Rendell and Ross Macdonald, examining their approach to storytelling as she dissects her favorite books of theirs. She expresses her love for Charles Dickens’ GREAT EXPECTATIONS and her appreciation for Sir Walter Scott’s generosity of spirit. And she chronicles the amount of research she undertakes to be able to present authentically, through Guido Brunetti and his colleagues, places and characters far from her own experience.
Grove Press | 9780802167620

THE BLACK WOLF by Louise Penny (Mystery)
Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf. But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Armand has realized that plot was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he in fact arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there? Armand is appalled to think that his mistake has allowed their conspiracy to grow, to gather supporters. To spread lies, manufacture enemies, and feed hatred and division. Still recovering from wounds received in stopping the first attack, Armand is confined to the village of Three Pines, leading a covert investigation from there.
Minotaur Books | 9781250328199

BRADY VS. BELICHICK: The Dynasty Debate by Gary Myers (Sports)
The greatest dynasty in NFL history stood on two pillars: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Together they forged a working relationship that provided thrilling results that would change the NFL forever. But what was the nature of that relationship? How did these two figures come together on a national --- and global --- stage and create the most dominant team in the NFL? The answer is more complex and more fraught than anyone really understands. Brady vs. Belichick: Who deserves the credit for nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl championships? Gary Myers draws on his unique and unparalleled access to Belichick and Brady, but also to the myriad players, coaches, personnel and family, to get to the bottom of this argument and resolve it once and for all.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250381217

THE COLOR OF HOPE by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Following the unexpected death of her beloved husband, art gallery owner Samantha Thompson takes a trip to Paris. Once abroad, an impulsive day trip from Paris to Biarritz leads Samantha to discover the charming medieval village of Arcangues in the Basque countryside. The château is the ancestral home of Xavier de Bonport, who is trapped in a loveless marriage and trying to dig himself out financially after a business failed due to the pandemic. He needs rental income as urgently as Samantha needs a refuge. With Xavier living in a smaller house on the property, Samantha begins to transform the château into a temporary home and considers fostering some children at the request of the local Dominican nuns, whose orphanage is filled to capacity. As a newfound family begins to fill the château, Samantha and Xavier wonder if their friendship is becoming something more.
Dell | 9780593498842

ECSTASY by Ivy Pochoda (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Lena’s wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. She lands in Naxos with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son's pet project --- the luxurious Agape Villas. Here, she yearns to rediscover her true nature and remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was. But Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the hotel and demanding that she fall in line. Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the Agape. She can feel their drums at night and hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs on the beach, awakening dark desires of women across the island. The only questions left will be whether or not Lena will join them and what it will cost her.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593851197

FAGIN THE THIEF by Allison Epstein (Historical Thriller)
Long before Oliver Twist stumbled onto the scene, Jacob Fagin was scrounging a life for himself in the dark alleys of 19th-century London. Born in the Jewish enclave of Stepney after his father was executed for theft, Jacob grows up with his mother, Leah. But his prospects are altered when a seasoned pickpocket teaches him a trade that pays better than an honest living ever could. Striking out on his own, Jacob familiarizes himself with London's wealthiest neighborhoods while forging a path in the shadows. Everything changes when he adopts aspiring teenage thief Bill Sikes, whose mercurial temper poses a danger to himself and anyone foolish enough to cross him. But when a major robbery goes awry, Jacob is forced to decide what he stands for --- and what a life is worth.
Vintage | 9780593687802

MAN ONE: An Amos Walker Mystery by Loren D. Estleman (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Young widow Sage Holland doesn’t look like a murderer --- and that’s because she isn’t one. The beautiful dame has driven non-stop from her home in frozen Alaska to seek out the services of private investigator Amos Walker, bringing not just the ice and snow with her. Sage has a stalker: her late husband’s vengeful brother, who’s determined to make her pay for a crime she didn’t commit. Someone killed David, but it wasn’t her. Walker knows not to take the words of husky-voiced, sorrowful women at face value. But Sage is in sore need of protection, and Walker’s hunt for clues on Detroit’s wintry streets soon leads to far more dead bodies than expected. He’ll have to use every trick he’s learned if he’s to keep not just his client’s blood but also his own from staining the snow.
Severn House | 9781448318933

MISSISSIPPI BLUE 42 by Eli Cranor (Thriller/Humor)
Special Agent Rae Johnson grew up on football fields alongside her father, a national-championship-winning coach. Which is exactly why, fresh out of Quantico, she’s sent down to Compson, Mississippi, to investigate the illicit money flowing into a bustling football program in the heart of the Delta. But two days into the assignment, things take a dire turn when the university’s star quarterback is flung from the roof of a college bar, lands on a bag of money, and dies. With rumors of corruption rustling through the kudzu vines, Rae realizes there’s more to the game than what she’d learned as a child. And in order to win, she’ll have to put all her father’s lessons to the ultimate test.
Soho Crime | 9781641298346

MURDER IN THE READING ROOM: A 42nd Street Library Mystery by Con Lehane (Mystery)
Raymond Ambler, crime-fiction curator at New York City’s prestigious 42nd Street Library, doesn’t consider it a big deal when he misses a call from visiting professor Robin Cartwright…until she turns up dead in a hotel room. Ambler feels duty-bound to find the culprit, and not just because the police half-suspect he’s guilty of the crime. It wasn’t just Professor Cartwright’s phone call he missed, but any sign that she was in danger. Robin was researching accidental deaths she believed were murders. Could her work have gotten her killed? Soon Ambler is knee-deep in suspects, including a shady ex-husband, a slippery pastor, and at least one of his own colleagues. If he doesn’t catch a ruthless killer soon, it won’t be just his own life in danger, but also those of his partner and newborn child.
Severn House | 9781448319169

THE NAMING OF THE BIRDS: An Inspector Cutter Mystery by Paraic O'Donnell (Gothic/Historical Mystery)
Something is troubling Inspector Henry Cutter. Sergeant Gideon Bliss is accustomed to his ill-tempered outbursts, but lately the inspector has grown silent and withdrawn. Then the murders begin. The first to die is the elderly Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but obscure civil servant who long ago retired to tend his orchids. If the motive for his killing is a mystery, the manner of his death is more bewildering still. The victims who follow suffer similar fates, their deaths gruesome but immaculately orchestrated. The murderer comes and goes like a ghost, leaving only carefully considered traces. As the hunt for this implacable adversary mounts, the inspector’s gloom deepens, and to Sergeant Bliss, his methods seem as mystifying as the crimes themselves.
Tin House | 9781638934721

NARROW THE ROAD by James Wade (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
Paperback Original
With his father missing and his mother gravely ill, William Carter is struggling to keep his family's cotton farm afloat. As his options wane, William receives a mysterious letter that claims to know his father's whereabouts. Together with his best friend, Ollie, he sets out to find his father and bring him home to set things right. But before the boys can complete their quest, they must navigate the labyrinth of the Big Thicket, some of the country's most uncharted, untamed land. But the danger is doubled when they agree to take on a medicine show runaway named Lena, eliciting the ire of the show's leader, the nefarious con man Doctor Downtain. As William, Ollie and Lena race to uncover the clues and find William's father, Downtain is closing in on them, readying to make good on his violent reputation.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798228960374

A NEW NEW ME by Helen Oyeyemi (Fiction)
Kinga is a woman who is just trying to make it through the week. There’s a Kinga for every day. On Mondays, you can catch Kinga-A deleting food delivery apps. By Friday, Kinga-E is happy to spend the days soaking, wine-drunk, in the bath. Kingas A–G, perhaps unsurprisingly, live a varied life. Between them is a professional matchmaker, a scent-crazed perfumer, and a window cleaner, all with varying degrees of apathy, anger, introversion and bossiness. At least three of them are Team Toxic. It’s an arrangement that’s not without its fair share of admin, grudges and half-truths. But when Kinga-A discovers a man tied up in their apartment, the Kingas have to reckon with the possibility that one of them might be planning to destroy them all.
Riverhead Books | 9780593718780

THE OPPOSITE OF MURDER by Sophie Hannah (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Jemma Stelling walks into a police station and confesses --- not to a murder she's committed, but to the one she's terrified she might. Jemma can't stop herself from thinking about murdering her stepmother, Marianne Upton. The only way to stop herself might be to confess before she snaps and does the unthinkable. But while Jemma is still giving her statement, a call comes in: Marianne has just been found stabbed to death, killed in exactly the way Jemma described. Suddenly, the woman desperate to prevent a murder has an unshakeable alibi…and a disturbingly accurate description of the crime she couldn't have committed. Is Jemma an innocent bystander? Or a brilliant, cold-blooded killer who planned everything down to the minute?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464279270

OVERKILL: An Ali Reynolds Mystery by J. A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
Chuck Brewster, the former business partner of Ali Reynolds’ tech entrepreneur husband B. Simpson, once carried on an illicit affair with Clarice --- B.’s first wife --- while his own wife lay dying of breast cancer. Once the affair came to light and tore both families apart, Chuck and B.’s partnership dissolved. Now, decades later, Chuck is found stabbed to death in his bed with Clarice standing at the top of the staircase, wearing a bloodied nightgown and holding a blood-covered knife. Jailed on suspicion of homicide, Clarice calls B. to ask for help and ends up reaching Ali instead. Although B. washes his hands of the whole situation, Ali suspects there might be more to the case than law enforcement thinks. At the same time, someone is targeting Camille Lee, High Noon Enterprise’s outside salesperson.
Gallery Books | 9781668035900

THE PERSIAN by David McCloskey (Political Thriller)
Kamran Esfahani, a dentist living out a dreary existence in Stockholm, agrees to spy for the Mossad after he’s recruited by Arik Glitzman, the chief of a clandestine unit tasked with running targeted assassinations and sabotage inside Iran. At Glitzman’s direction, Kam returns to his native Tehran and opens a dental practice there, using it as a cover for the Israeli intelligence agency. But when he tries to recruit an Iranian widow seeking to avenge the death of her husband at the hands of the Mossad, the operation goes terribly wrong, landing him in prison under the watchful eye of a sadistic officer. And now, after enduring three years of torture in captivity, Kamran Esfahani sits in an interrogation room, preparing to write his final confession. Kam knows it is too late to save himself. But he has managed to keep one secret --- only one --- and he just might be able to save that.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324134459

SACRED LIGHT: A Georgia O'Keefe Mystery by Kathryn Lasky (Historical Mystery)
New Mexico, 1937. Painter Georgia O’Keeffe is excited for her trip to the intriguing wilderness of the Bisti Badlands. A common site for archaeological excavations, it’s a historical place with enchanting desertscapes but also perilous natural structures. Her trip is overshadowed by the sad news of her friend and native, Juan Nez, going missing. No one knows where he is, and it’s unlikely he’s gotten lost. He knows these lands like the back of his hand. Has something happened to him? And if so, was it an accident, or has a horrible crime taken place? Trying to make sense of the situation, Georgia seeks solace in her art, but soon she comes face to face with a dangerous reality and an even deadlier disaster.
Severn House | 9781448318865

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE REAL THING: A Case History Recorded by John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (Historical Mystery)
London, 189–: While the great city is brought to a standstill by a series of blizzards, a landlady complains that her artist tenant is behind on rent. The next thing you know, there are several corpses, and Sherlock Holmes and his biographer, John H. Watson, MD, find themselves drawn into one of the most bizarre cases of the great detective’s career. And into the cutthroat big business of Art, where chicanery and mendacity (and cut throats) proliferate. What makes a work of art worth killing for? Is it the artist, his mistress, his dealer or his blackmailer? The cast of characters is large. But are they perpetrators, accomplices or victims? And just who is Juliet Packwood, with whom Watson has become infatuated?
The Mysterious Press | 9781613168158

A STUDY IN SECRETS: A Redacted Man Mystery by Jeffrey Siger (Mystery)
Michael A lives a quiet, comfortable life since his retirement from the intelligence services. He spends his days imagining the lives of the anonymous people he watches in the park beneath the window of his elegant New York townhouse --- number 221 --- his every need tended to by his housekeeper, Mrs. Baker. For weeks, a girl has sat in the park every morning at dawn. Always alone. Always watchful. And when the sun rises, she vanishes, as if she was never there. But one day her routine changes --- and Michael realizes that she faces terrible danger. He makes an uncharacteristic decision to abandon his solitude and help her. Soon, Michael finds himself plunged into the New York underworld, and he’ll have to use all the tricks of his former trade if he’s to keep not just himself, but his new friend, alive.
Severn House | 9781448318940

THIS HERE IS LOVE by Princess Joy L. Perry (Historical Fiction)
As the 17th century burns to a close in Tidewater, Virginia, America’s character is wrought in the fires of wealth, race and freedom. Young Bless, the only child left to her enslaved mother, stubbornly crafts the terms of her vital existence. She stands as the lone bulwark between her mother and irreparable despair, her mother’s only possibility of hope, as Bless reshapes the boundaries of love. David is a helping child and a solace to his parents, and he gave a purpose to their trials. His survival hinges on his mother’s shrewd intellect and ferocious fight, but his sustenance is his freed Black father’s dream of emancipation for the entire family. Jack Dane, a Scots-Irish boy, sails to Britain’s colonies when his father sells him into indentured servitude as an escape from poverty. There Jack learns from the rich the value of each person’s life.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324130512

TREATY by Davis Bunn (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Kirra Barret lives with her clan in a mining community in the Fifth Ward of Florian, a city in a human-occupied zone on planet Treaty. She is determined to have a brighter future --- and her unique connection to the planet’s flying alien beasts could be the key to improving her fortunes. In Florian’s upmarket Second Ward, Eva Fourier is offered the chance to become a secret government agent and go after criminals accumulating wealth and power on Treaty by dubious means. From different ends of Florian’s social spectrum, battle lines are drawn as Kirra and Eva’s lives intertwine in unexpected and high-stakes ways --- ways that threaten the long-standing agreement between humans and aliens on Treaty forever.
Severn House | 9781448320646

THE WHITECHAPEL FULL MOON SOCIETY by Elizabeth DeLozier
(Historical Fantasy/Supernatural Thriller)
Paperback Original
When Caroline Foster arrives at the Whitechapel Full Moon Society in search of her missing brother, she finds a dilapidated façade belying an interior as opulent as any exclusive gentlemen’s club. In exchange for room and board, Caroline is hired as the Full Moon’s maid. But when it is revealed that the previous maid was murdered --- an early victim of Jack the Ripper --- and her brother has left behind no answers, only more questions, Caroline begins to suspect her hosts might be hiding something. As more bodies turn up with a connection to the Society, Caroline fears she may have unwittingly stumbled into a bedtime story --- the kind with monsters and curses, family secrets and ancient lore.
Dutton | 9798217045259

THE WOMAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE QUIETLY by Katarina Bivald (Mystery)
Paperback Original
If you've spent your entire life running your family as ruthlessly as you've run the family business, it is perhaps not the best idea to gather them all on a cold and dark remote island to celebrate your 80th birthday. When Margrethe Cullenberg-Franzén falls to her death during her birthday celebration, Ian Ahmed is convinced it's murder. Trapped in a wintry landscape of muted colors and creeping shadows, he and novelist Berit Gardner struggle to unravel the toxic family secrets behind Margrethe's imposing legacy. As winter deepens and the ice seals the islands in silence, the question echoes louder: Who stood to gain the most from the matriarch's fall? And how long before the killer strikes again?
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728295824

YOU KNOW WHY by J.T. Ellison (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
It’s the holidays, and photographer Brooklyn Locke is bound for Italy with her husband, Trey, and their two children. But when Trey vanishes from the airport, missing their connecting flight, their impromptu vacation --- and life as she knows it --- begins to unravel. Desperate to find her husband, Brooklyn accepts help from a stranger on the same flight, Eden Barrow. But Eden soon makes a shocking claim. She is the sister of Trey’s first wife, and 10 years ago he was the main suspect in her murder. Struggling to comprehend these accusations, fate delivers one more blow: a violent accident that leaves Brooklyn fighting for her life. With nowhere else to turn, Brooklyn leans on Eden for support. But each kindness feels too rehearsed, feeding her doubts about Eden’s motives and Trey’s true past.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662535918

On Sale the Week of August 31st in Hardcover

September 1st

AGRIPPA: A Novel of Ancient Rome's Descent into Dictatorship by Robert Harris (Historical Thriller)
He was born feet first. His mother did not survive, and the nickname, Agrippa --- mother killer --- stuck. But the schoolyard taunting only served to harden his resolve and hone his predilection for aggression. Agrippa was a mere commoner, a plebeian, but he earned the respect and fear of his peers. He defended a bullied young boy, Octavius, who turned out to be Caesar’s nephew. He eventually joined the ranks of the legionnaires and marched against their enemies. His prowess on the battlefield spoke for itself, and Caesar relied on him to protect his favored nephew. When Caesar was murdered in the Senate, Octavius inherited the empire in name only. To assume the mantle, he would have to fight for it. Agrippa, forever by his side, would be his closest advisor and the merciless agent of his military will.
Doubleday | 9780385552387 

BACKWATER by James Sallis (Noir Mystery) 
When an old friend from his days on the police force makes a plea for him to come and help with what seems to be a murder case, jazz guitarist Bishop steps back into a former life. But the job is in the town where he grew up, to which he vowed never to return. And his friend disappears, leaving him with responsibilities he never anticipated or wanted. Not to mention a couple more murders. Bishop slips into his old role as easily as into well-worn, comfortable old clothes. Getting his bearings in the town’s close society and among his own memories is a different matter.
Soho Crime | 9781641298599 

THE BARMAN OF THE RITZ by Philippe Collin (Historical Fiction)
Paris, 1940. The Nazis have descended on Paris, and the Occupation has begun. Businesses across the city have shuttered, but the legendary Ritz Hotel remains open, its dazzling lights still burning bright on the Place Vendôme. When it becomes the favorite watering hole of the occupying forces, its barman, Frank Meier, is forced to adapt to a new clientele. But Frank has a secret: he is Jewish. Tensions rise as the war progresses, but Frank refuses to leave his post behind the bar. Unbeknownst to the Nazi officers he serves night after night, Frank forms precarious alliances with unlikely accomplices in order to save other Jewish families in the city and keep his loved ones alive.
Scribner | 9781668097199 

BEFORE YOU WERE ANNE by Emiko Jean (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Married, pregnant and thriving in her career, Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life finally feels whole. But then an explosive new case shatters everything. A mother is dead. Her 16-year-old daughter, Naomi, has disappeared. And the search will awaken questions about Chelsey’s own origins. The victim called herself Anne Walker. But she was born Rika Takahashi, and her journey from a remote Japanese farm to suburban Seattle conceals decades of deception. Across Tokyo’s shadowed underworld, an isolated Idaho town, and years of carefully constructed lies, Rika reinvented herself at every turn. But she was always running --- from someone, or something. Now, Chelsey must find Naomi before she becomes the next victim.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668023969 

THE BIRTHING TREE by Amanda Peters (Fiction)
Born under the shadow of a birthing tree sacred to generations of Mi’kmaq women, Aliet Paul grows up outside a small Nova Scotia town with her fierce, loving grandmother, Kiju. Her mother died bringing her into the world under that very tree. Her father remains a mystery no one will name. As Aliet comes of age, she navigates love, loss and a personal tragedy that veers her from the path her grandmother wanted for her. She becomes a nurse trained in modern medicine, yet she carries Kiju’s teachings close. Years later, when the call comes that Kiju has died, Aliet returns home to a crumbling house. As she digs to uncover who her family really is, each revelation pulls her deeper into a web of long-guarded silences, dangerous loyalties and generational wounds that refuse to stay buried.
Catapult | 9781646223695 

BODY LANGUAGE by Meg Howrey (Fiction)
Sloane, a former actress now working as a therapist, is determined to find a meaningful way through menopause. Her sister, Laurel, is managing her own growing rage and restlessness while engaging in work at an environmental nonprofit. Nanette, the youngest, has answered a long-delayed religious calling and is living as a novice in a convent. All three lives will be further disrupted when Sloane receives a call summoning her to their mother’s house, Laurel discovers possible evidence of her husband’s infidelity, and Nanette finds herself in the middle of a media frenzy. Soon, all three are reunited under their mother’s roof, and no one can seem to agree on anything beyond the obvious: Barbara has dementia, as did her mother and sister before her.
Doubleday | 9780385551755 

THE DISAPPEARERS by Marlon James (Fiction)
In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. Though strangers to one another, they share an inescapable truth: All of them are gay. And they live in a world that refuses to accept them. One night, the men are savagely beaten, and one of them is killed. As their bodies heal, the survivors begin to face the hatred and contempt that the violence laid bare. Some try to ignore what happened. Others double down on retribution. Some disappear completely.
Riverhead Books | 9780593717202 

KISS SLAY REPLAY: A Time Loop Novel by Rachel Harrison
(Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Willa Sullivan is excited to celebrate her best friends finally having the big wedding they’ve always wanted. But this is the first time she’s seen her ex-fiancé in months, and he brought a date. Everything feels off. Things start to look up, though, when Willa meets Danny, the groom’s charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. Willa wakes up, and it’s the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. But as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question whether it was really a dream, déjà vu or something more sinister.
Berkley | 9798217188574 

MAD AS HELL: How 60 Minutes Took on the Powerful and Made Television History by Harry Moses (Memoir)
For almost 60 years, every Sunday night at 7:00 sharp, a simple ticking stopwatch made America stop what it was doing. At its peak, “60 Minutes” was the most powerful hour on television, drawing as many as 50 million viewers each week. Presidents watched. CEOs braced themselves. Ordinary citizens --- wronged, ignored or silenced --- found a voice. Today, amid upheaval at CBS News and renewed debate over press freedom, that voice faces an urgent test of its journalistic integrity. In MAD AS HELL, a producer from the program’s golden years takes readers deep inside the broadcast that reshaped television journalism.
Prospecta Press | 9781632261816 

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAMES by MrBeast and James Patterson
(Thriller/Adventure)
The Games begin in Antarctica, where one wrong step on the ice kills you, and they never let up: Shark water off a remote Chilean island, desert heat that cooks you where you stand, storm-battered peaks, and caves so black you cannot find your own hand. No rescue. No second chances. A billion dollars to whoever is still standing. Then the terrain stops being the thing that can kill you, and the other players start. Alliances turn into ambushes. Trust becomes the sharpest weapon. And somewhere above it all, a hidden voice is watching every move, testing, deciding who deserves to survive.
William Morrow | 9780063488762

MOTHER DAUGHTER SISTER STRANGER by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Psychological Thriller)
The sole survivors of the fiery plane crash that killed their parents, Eliza Ramsey and her sister, Bea, share an unbreakable bond. But now, on the 11th anniversary of the tragedy, Bea fails to retrieve her preteen daughter from a sleepover at Eliza’s. Eliza knows her sister would never leave her precious Piper behind, and she fears the worst. But did Bea plan her own disappearance? The Ramseys’ lives have already crashed and burned once. Now, Eliza discovers she's the only one who can protect her niece from the horrifying legacy of her family’s sinister history. Together, the two must prevent their lives from going up in flames once again.
Minotaur Books | 9781250350022 

MURDER IN ST. JAMES'S PARK: A Lady Worthing Mystery by Vanessa Riley (Historical Mystery)
London, 1807. Lady Abigail Worthing’s marriage of convenience to James Monroe, the Lord Worthing, is over. But James is out of her life quicker than Abigail anticipated when she finds his body in St. James’s Park. Shocked by her husband’s brutal murder, Abigail is determined to catch his killer. But when she discovers that James’ transgressions ran far deeper and darker than she thought possible, Abigail questions her own judgment. Did she make a terrible mistake when solving a past crime, and does the key to James’ death lie in the letters he was writing shortly before his demise? With her neighbor and good friend Stapleton Henderson by her side, Abigail confronts jealousy, resentment and stunning betrayal that will shake her to her core.
Severn House | 9781448317646 

THE OXFORD GUIDE TO SCANDAL AND LIES by Kate Westbury (Historical Mystery)
Oxford, England, 1951. The Honorable Ginevra Bishop is following in her mother’s footsteps by studying at Oxford, eager to prove she’s more than a debutante. Sidney Braithwaite likes brooding, Latin and ignoring his nightmares. He’s determined to forge a new life for himself at Oxford, far from his childhood mining village and free from memories of the war. Though Gin and Sidney have little in common, the British Security Service is keen to unite her charm with his espionage experience. There’s a Soviet spy at the university, and the agent tracking them down was poisoned. MI5 wants Gin and Sidney to pick up the trail and identify the informant before more sensitive information is compromised.
Minotaur Books | 9781250424105 

PAPER GHOSTS by Sarah Addison Allen (Fiction/Magical Realism) 
For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir. 1976: Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever. Present day: Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet, as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250283429 

PROMISED LAND by Henry Wise (Thriller)
Deep within southside Virginia lies the Snakefoot --- a wild swampland that holds secrets, hides truths, and harbors the dead in murky waters that refuse to shine yet somehow glow. One morning, a pickup truck is found jammed into the mud, the driver’s door open amidst scattered bullets and bloodstains on the seat. The driver, Rainbo Boon, is nowhere to be found, but his tracks lead Deputy Sheriff Will Seems and his partner, Tania Jameson, into the swamp. During their investigation, Buck Tomlin, the grandson of the missing Rainbo, proves cooperative, at least at first. But when the boy’s whereabouts from the night of the accident don’t check out, Will and Tania must confront the troubling reality that the Snakefoot might hold more than just a runaway victim.
Atlantic Crime | 9780802164506 

THE SILENT APPEAL by Janice Hallett (Mystery)
Welcome back to Lower Lockwood. The Fairway Players return with Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald as committee cochairs. This year, they have chosen to stage Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. But auditions aren’t their only problem: Sarah-Jane’s sister, Nicky-Rose, is suddenly back in town under mysterious circumstances. As always, they’re short on men, and new Player Fran Elroy-Jones enlists a young married couple and the husband’s cousin to join. But no one wants to play the part of the hated Gerda, leaving Kevin and Sarah-Jane with no option but to reach out to an old member. Tensions run high, and intrepid lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked with uncovering exactly what happened on the opening night of The Hollow --- and if the correct person has taken the blame.
Atria Books | 9781668083710 

THINK LIKE A DOG: How Positive Psychology Can Help Your Dog Thrive by Dr. Jen Golbeck, PhD (Psychology/Personal Growth)
Like many of us, Jen Golbeck looked at her rescue golden retrievers and affectionately wondered what exactly was going on in their cute, fuzzy heads. But as a left-brained scientist, Golbeck set out to seek concrete answers --- research and data --- to back up the hunch that there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface of our pups’ funny looks and adorable, occasionally destructive, behaviors. What she finds is a surprising relationship between positive psychology and how we might learn to think about how our dogs think in a whole new light. She introduces a mold-breaking concept that shifts our focus from solving problems and scolding “bad behavior” to building on strengths based on qualities like focus, vitality and curiosity.
Atria Books | 9781668060735

THE THREE GRACES OF PEARL STREET by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins (Fiction)
Graziella, a 96-year-old former nun, spends her days running the parish’s food kitchen, convinced it is her responsibility to keep everyone fed in their working-class New York neighborhood. Her daughter, Grace, a respected psychology professor, appears accomplished and composed, yet she finds herself unmoored as her personal life falters. Ella --- Graziella’s granddaughter and Grace’s daughter --- is weary of defending her vegan diet and anti-capitalistic lifestyle. Blind to her own brilliance, she longs, above all, for a place to belong. Living together again, the three Graces reckon with the distances that have shaped them, and with what it means, at last, to be fully known.
Atria Books | 9781668224861 

TOM CLANCY PRESSURE DEPTH: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel by Jack Stewart
(Thriller/Adventure)
Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. His involvement with a US Navy dive team working off the coast uncovers a threat to international security. For years, rumors persisted that the Soviets had placed a device for tracking American submarines on the sea floor. By now, the technology should be outdated. But the Americans are still interested in recovering it. It's a seemingly routine mission until they make a shocking discovery: the defensive network they thought they were looking for is actually a weapon unlike anything they’ve ever seen. That explains the arrival of a Chinese special operations team who seem determined to get their hands on the aging tech, even if they have to kill to do it.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9798217183166 

UNDER STORY by Chloe Benjamin (Fiction)
At the edge of the world, biologist Laurel Salter is hiding from everything she’s ever known. For 10 hours a day, six days per week, she works as a dishwasher at McMurdo Station, an isolated research base in Antarctica. She tells no one that before she arrived, she was a renowned young scientist with a promising career and a family. But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can’t escape her past. When a strange light appears across the ice --- and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo --- her former husband, Eli, won't be far behind. Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine. 
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593545218 

On Sale the Week of August 31st in Paperback

September 1st

AMITY by Nathan Harris (Historical Fiction)
The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they’ve been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana, clinging to the hope that one day June would return. When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June’s tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman’s journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter, Florence. Together, they venture into the Mexican desert to find June, all the while evading two crooked brothers who will stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they're owed. 
Little, Brown Paperbacks | 9780316456357

AWAKE: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker (Memoir)
At 2:30am on July 11, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of 26 years whispering in his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader, to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds parenting five kids alone with no clue about her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade --- urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationships --- this seemed nothing less than total failure. In AWAKE, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea --- and how she made it to shore.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668083697

BOOK OF LIVES: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood (Memoir)
Raised by scientifically minded parents, Margaret Atwood spent most of each year in the wild forest of northern Quebec. It was an unfettered and nomadic childhood, sometimes isolated but also thrilling and beautiful. From this unconventional start, Atwood unfolds the story of her life, linking key moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape --- from the cruel school year that would become CAT'S EYE to the unease of 1980s Berlin, where she began THE HANDMAID'S TALE. In pages alive with the natural world, reading and books, major political turning points, and her lifelong love for the charismatic writer Graeme Gibson, we meet poets, bears, Hollywood stars and larger-than-life characters straight from the pages of an Atwood novel.
Vintage | 9780593314081

THE CAPTIVE by Kit Burgoyne (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
For months, Luke and his underground revolutionary group have been planning their biggest operation yet: kidnapping 23-year-old Adeline Woolsaw, heiress to a vast yet largely anonymous company that runs everything from military bases and mental hospitals to commuter trains, call centers and prisons. But the revolutionaries get a shock when they bundle Adeline into their van. She’s about to go into labor. And she may not object to being kidnapped, if it allows her and the baby to escape her despotic parents. Her parents are the ones who made a deal with an ancient evil of nearly limitless power. Now the Woolsaws and their henchmen will stop at nothing to get the infant back, so they can establish an infernal new kingdom on Earth with their grandchild on the throne.
Hell’s Hundred | 9781641298711

CROOKS: A Novel About Crime and Family by Lou Berney (Thriller)
For Buddy, a low-level mob wise guy, and Lillian, a charming pickpocket, the criminal underworld is the only life they’ve ever known. When they’re forced to flee the glittering Babylon of Las Vegas, they end up opening a club in Oklahoma City --- a town that quickly feels like a gold mine of fresh marks and easy new money. Along for the ride are their five children, all of them raised into the family business of crime --- until the day comes when they each have a chance to make their own way in the world, even if they can never completely escape the family’s long, dark shadow.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063445567

THE CROSSROADS: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box (Mystery/Thriller)
Marybeth Pickett gets the call she has always dreaded: her husband, Joe, is in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. Joe was found in his pickup at Antler Creek Junction, a crossroads connecting three ranches. Each road leading to a dangerous family. Each family with a different bone to pick with the local game warden. Marybeth and the new sheriff assume that Joe was ambushed by one of the families, but they have no idea which one since Joe didn’t say where he was going or why. With Joe unconscious and fighting for his life with Marybeth at his side, Sheridan, April and Lucy split up and investigate each of the families to uncover the truth of what happened to their father before it’s too late.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593851111

CRY HAVOC: A Terminal List Thriller by Jack Carr (Historical/Political Thriller)
Just before the Tet Offensive, before President Johnson announces he will not run for reelection, before the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, as riots and protests rage across the nation, a spy ship is captured by communist forces off the coast of North Korea. The crew thought they had destroyed everything of intelligence value. They were wrong. As a KGB “illegal” elicits information from a high-ranking NSA official, and teams of special operators infiltrating into Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam disappear without a trace, an ambitious Soviet advisor launches an ingenious plan that could forever alter the world balance of power. Tom Reece, a SEAL operator attached to the highly classified and shadowy MACV-SOG, is about to be thrust into a bloody battle to discover the truth.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668095263

DARK RENAISSANCE: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt (Biography)
In repressive Elizabethan England, artists are frightened into dull conventionality; foreigners are suspect; popular entertainment largely consists of coarse spectacles, animal fights and hangings. Into this crude world of government censorship and religious authoritarianism comes an ambitious cobbler’s son from Canterbury with a daring desire to be known --- and an uncanny ear for Latin poetry. For Christopher Marlowe, it’s a secret portal to beauty, visionary imagination, transgressive desire and dangerous skepticism. What Marlowe seizes in his rare opportunity for a classical education brings about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language and culture. His astonishing literary success will nourish the talent of a collaborator and rival, William Shakespeare. DARK RENAISSANCE illuminates both Marlowe’s times and the origins and significance of his work.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324134213

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TENSION: New and Selected Stories by Jonathan Lethem (Fiction/Short Stories)
This dazzling, genre-defying collection from Jonathan Lethem features seven major stories published since his last collection, along with his best work spanning more than three decades. A major new story, “The Red Sun School of Thoughts,” never published before, follows a teenage boy coming to terms with figures of authority and power --- those in both his biological family and the family he creates for himself. Elsewhere we meet “Super Goat Man,” a down-at-the-heels bohemian superhero; “The Porn Critic,” whose accidental expertise wrecks his own romantic aspirations; and “Sleepy People,” who pose interpersonal conundrums without ever rousing from their slumber. 
Ecco | 9780063388864

FINDING MY WAY: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai (Memoir)
Thrust onto the public stage at 15 years old after the Taliban’s brutal attack on her life, Malala Yousafzai quickly became an international icon known for bravery and resilience. But away from the cameras and crowds, she spent years struggling to find her place in an unfamiliar world. Now, for the first time ever, Malala takes us beyond the headlines. FINDING MY WAY is a story of friendship and first love, of anxiety and self-discovery, of trying to stay true to yourself when everyone wants to tell you who you are. In it, Malala traces her path from high school loner to reckless college student to a young woman at peace with her past. Through candid, often messy moments --- like nearly failing exams, getting ghosted, and meeting the love of her life --- Malala reminds us that real role models aren’t perfect. They’re human.
Atria Books | 9781668054284

THE GETAWAY by Kieran Scott (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
For years, three couples have gathered at The Villa --- billionaire Lincoln Foster’s Hamptons estate --- for lavish weekends among friends. But this year, mysterious blue cards appear in each bedroom, exposing secrets: their host’s betrayals and the guests’ own dark deeds. Everyone has something to hide. Even uninvited guests hoping to be accepted among the elite. With a hurricane bearing down, no one is getting out. When the revelations turn deadly, the trapped friends must confront what their lies have cost them --- possibly their lives.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662538520

GRAY DAWN: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley (Mystery)
The name Easy Rawlins stirs excitement in the hearts of readers and fear in the hearts of his foes. His success has bought him a thriving detective agency, with its first female detective; a remote home, shared with children and pets and lovers, high atop the hills overlooking gritty Los Angeles; and more trouble, more problems and more threats to those whom he loves. In other words, he’s still beset on all sides. A number of below-the-law powerbrokers plead with Easy to locate a mysterious, dangerous woman --- Lutisha James, though she’s gone by another name that Easy will immediately recognize. 1970s Los Angeles is a transient city of delicate, violent balances, and Lutisha has disturbed that. She also has a secret that will upend Easy’s own life, painfully closer to home.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316573245

HER ONE REGRET: An Ocean State Novel by Donna Freitas (Mystery/Thriller)
When successful Rhode Island real estate agent Lucy Mendoza vanishes, leaving her baby behind in a grocery store parking lot, the news quickly makes national headlines. Lucy’s best friend, Michelle, is devastated, and terrified that Lucy’s life is at stake. But she knows something that could complicate the police investigation. Lucy had confessed something unspeakable: She regretted becoming a mother, so much so that she’d fantasized about faking her own kidnapping. If the police and media were to find out, Lucy would become a monster in the eyes of the public. Michelle is sure Lucy would never abandon her daughter. But could she be wrong? Could Lucy have been so desperate that she chose to escape her life?
Soho Crime | 9781641298438

IN THE KILLER’S SIGHT by Mike Omer (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
Officer Kate Marino has a complicated relationship with her hometown. But there’s one thing that could bring her back. Her 17-year-old niece, Alice, disappeared two days ago. And she’s not the only woman who’s gone missing. With police dogs Nero and Bella (now retired) in tow, Kate returns to her childhood home and the ghosts that inhabit it. It’s not just the looming presence of her father that hinders her investigation. Something even more sinister awaits her there. Dead bodies confirm that the missing women are the work of a serial killer who hunts his prey through the New Hampshire wilderness. With time running out, Kate is determined to find Alice before she becomes his next victim.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662530043

I’VE GOT A NEW COMPLAINT: Essays on Aging Disgracefully and Other Small Disasters by Laurie Notaro (Humor/Essays)
Paperback Original
Laurie Notaro can time travel. The portal is Scottsdale, Arizona. Once inside her elderly parents’ home, she’s a child again --- who’s two years away from collecting Social Security. Caught between generations, Laurie is young enough to be thrust into the role of caregiver yet old enough to be grappling with her own creaking bones and analog life skills. She runs rampant through Italy with her American driving skills. Infuriating office politics leave her little choice but revenge and some hexes. Laurie also confronts a high school bully at a reunion, considers an elaborate funeral at a puppet theater, and fancies an ideal retirement plan involving a bank robbery. As for sex at 60, honestly, it’s a challenge.
Little A | 9781662528842

THE LAST DEATH OF THE YEAR: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Historical Mystery) 
New Year’s Eve, 1932. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool arrive on the tiny Greek island of Lamperos to celebrate the holiday with what turns out to be a rather odd community of locals living in a dilapidated house. A dark sense of foreboding overshadows the beautiful island getaway when the guests play a New Year’s Resolutions game after dinner, and one written resolution gleefully threatens to perform “the last and first death of the year.” Hours later, one of the home’s residents is found dead on the terrace. In light of the shocking murder, Poirot reveals to Catchpool the real reason he’s brought him to the island --- the life of another community member has been threatened. Now both men resolve to ensure that the first murder will be the last.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063424524

LIBRARY OF FORBIDDEN BOOKS by Mario Escobar (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Berlin, 1933. The vibrant cultural heart of Germany is darkening under the shadow of the Nazi regime. For Helene Nathan, one of the first female librarians at a prestigious German library, the books she cherishes are targets. As the government begins its systematic purge of literature, compiling lists of “forbidden” works and orchestrating public book burnings, Helene realizes she cannot stand by as her world turns to ash. Determined to resist the encroaching tyranny, Helene and her colleagues embark on a perilous mission of secretly collecting and hiding the very books slated for destruction. Her quiet rebellion is especially complicated by the fact that Helene is half-Jewish, and Rudolf Kummer, a ruthless Nazi official, seemingly has a personal vendetta against her.
Thomas Nelson | 9781400355815

MERCY by Joan Silber (Historical Fiction)
In the gritty East Village of 1970s New York, Ivan and his best friend, Eddie, a popular local bartender, are dabbling in drugs following a short tour of Europe. One night, as Ivan and Eddie experiment with heroin, things go horribly wrong. In a panic, Ivan rushes Eddie to a crowded local ER and, believing his friend is about to die, makes the awful choice to leave him there. This one act of abandonment haunts Ivan his entire life. He keeps this secret from his friends and later his family, forever searching for mercy from “a remorse that never dies.” Ivan's decision also ripples across time through an extended community, affecting a host of other people unknowingly connected to that night.
Counterpoint | 9781640097988

QUEEN DEMON by Martha Wells (Fantasy/Adventure)
Dahin, a beloved member of the Witch King's coterie, believes he has clues to the location of the Hierarchs' Well. The Witch King Kai, along with his companions Ziede and Tahren, knowing there's something he isn't telling them, travel with him to the rebuilt university of Ancartre, which may be dangerously close to finding the Well itself. Can Kai stop the rise of a new Hierarch? And can he trust his companions to do what’s right?
Tor Books | 9781250826930

REPLACEABLE YOU: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach
(Science/Humor)
The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available --- sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we’re attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet? In REPLACEABLE YOU, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings. 
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324134268

SIPSWORTH by Simon Van Booy (Metaphysical Fiction)
Following the loss of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns to the village of her childhood after living abroad for six decades. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss. She retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit: “Each day was an impersonation of the one before with only a slight shuffle --- as though even for death there is a queue.” Then, one cold winter night, a chance encounter with a mouse sets Helen on a surprising journey. SIPSWORTH is a reminder that there can be second chances. No matter what we have planned for ourselves, sometimes life has plans of its own.
David R. Godine, Publisher | 9781567928754

THE TAO OF THE BACKUP CATCHER: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game by Tim Brown, with Erik Kratz (Sports)
In baseball, there are superstars, stars and everyday players --- and then there are the rest. THE TAO OF THE BACKUP CATCHER is about them, the backup catchers, who exist near the bottom of the roster and the end of the bench and between the numbers in a sport --- and a society --- increasingly driven by cold, hard analytics. It is a story of grown men who once dreamed of stardom and generational wealth. Instead, they were handed a broom and a deeper understanding of who wins and why, who stands tall and who folds, and who will invest their own lives in catching bullpens and the back ends of doubleheaders.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538726563

A TIME OF WITCHES by Madeline Martin (Gothic Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
Lilith Legare’s life is unraveling. Since her mother’s death, strange things have been happening --- including her recurring nightmare of being burned alive at the stake. Her search for answers brings her to the decaying Brackenmere Manor where the past blurs with the present. In 1645 Suffolk, Sybil Brantham stands accused as a witch. An educated, wealthy widow, she is branded a threat by men who fear her independence. As arrests begin and suspicion abounds, Sybil must protect her younger sister. Across centuries, Lilith and Sybil are bound by blood and by danger. To save themselves, and each other, they must confront the silence that has stolen women’s power for generations --- and dare to claim their voices before it’s too late.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335002679

THE TRUE TRUE STORY OF RAJA THE GULLIBLE (AND HIS MOTHER) by Rabih Alameddine (Fiction)
In a tiny Beirut apartment, 63-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja’s work life and love life, boundaries be damned. When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn’t be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems to be a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.
Grove Press | 9780802168436

VENETIAN VESPERS by John Banville (Historical Fiction)
1899. As the new century approaches, struggling English writer Evelyn Dolman marries Laura Rensselaer, the daughter of an American oil tycoon. Evelyn anticipates that he and Laura will inherit a substantial fortune and lead a comfortable, settled life. But his hopes are dashed when a mysterious rift between Laura and her father, just before the patriarch’s death, leads to her disinheritance. The unhappy newlyweds travel to Venice to celebrate the New Year at the Palazzo Dioscuri, the ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo. From their first moments in the mist-blanketed floating city, otherworldly occurrences begin to accumulate. Where has Laura disappeared to? How to explain the increasingly sinister circumstances closing around him? Could he be losing his mind?
Vintage | 9780593686546

THE WAYFINDER by Adam Johnson (Historical Fiction)
Talking corpses, poetic parrots, and a fan that wafts the breath of life. This is the world that young Kōrero finds herself thrust into when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote that its inhabitants have forgotten the word for stranger. Her people are desperate and on the brink of starvation, and the wayward stranger offers them an impossible choice: they can remain in the only home they’ve ever known and await the uncertainty to come, or Kōrero can join him and venture into unfamiliar waters, guided by only the night sky and his assurance of a bountiful future in the Kingdom of Tonga. What Kōrero and her people don’t know is that the promised refuge is no utopia. Instead, Tonga is an empire at war and on the verge of collapse.
Picador | 9781250448743

WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES by Ken Jaworowski (Thriller)
Carla, a single mom poised to finally break free from her cycle of poverty, must risk it all, including her morality, to help her son hide a terrible secret. Reed, an autistic young man, sets out on a journey to keep a deathbed promise to the mother he just lost. Along the way, he’ll encounter both kindhearted residents and a cold-blooded nemesis. And Liz, an aspiring musician on the cusp of a breakthrough, needs to quickly come up with the cash she owes a brutal ex-con. If she can’t pay him, both her dream and her life will be in grave danger. As these three compelling characters intersect, the novel ignites into a story filled with explosive twists, hair-raising chills and boundless love.
Atlantic Crime | 9780802168429

THE WHISTLER by Nick Medina (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Henry Hotard was on the verge of fame, gaining a following and traction with his eerie ghost-hunting videos. Then his dreams came to a screeching halt. Now, he's learning to navigate a new life in a wheelchair, back on the reservation where he grew up. And he’s being haunted. His girlfriend, Jade, insists he just needs time to adjust to his new reality as a quadriplegic, that it’s his traumatized mind playing tricks on him, but Henry knows better. As the specter haunting him creeps closer each night, Henry battles to find a way to endure, to rid himself of the horror stalking him. Worried that this dread might plague him forever, he realizes the only way to exile his phantom is by confronting his troubled past and going back to the events that led to his injury. It all started when he whistled at night.
Berkley | 9780593820421

WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy (Fiction)
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore. As they nurse Rowan back to strength, it begins to feel like she might be just what they need. Rowan starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again. But she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes that Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late.
Flatiron Books | 9781250828019

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