The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota, gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast.

Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who recently has returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also to put to rest the demons from his own past.

Read more »

September 2023

September's Books on Screen roundup includes the season premieres of "The Morning Show" on Apple TV+, "The Wheel of Time" on Amazon Prime Video, and "Virgin River" on Netflix; the series premieres of AMC's "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon," Hulu's "The Other Black Girl," Apple TV+'s "The Changeling," and Netflix's "Dear Child"; the season finales of "Harlan Coben’s Shelter" on Amazon Prime Video and "Dark Winds" on AMC; the Netflix film Love at First Sight, along with the theatrical releases of Dumb Money and A Haunting in Venice; and the DVD releases of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, God Is a Bullet and Corner Office.

Read more »

Week of September 25, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of September 25th include the two books in Cormac McCarthy's masterful The Passenger series --- THE PASSENGER, the story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God, and STELLA MARIS, an intimate portrait of grief and longing, as a young woman in a psychiatric facility seeks to understand her own existence; LEARNING TO TALK, a dazzling collection of loosely autobiographical stories from Hilary Mantel that locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood; DON’T FEAR THE REAPER, the riveting sequel to Stephen Graham Jones' MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW, in which Jade Daniels returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings; and THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, a delightful novel from the queen of holiday stories, Debbie Macomber, about two lifelong friends who decide to trade places the week before Christmas and end up finding love along the way. 

Read more »

Week of September 18, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of September 18th include A TRUTH TO LIE FOR, an action-packed mystery by Anne Perry about a lethal new weapon that threatens to endanger all of Europe --- unless Elena Standish can rescue an ingenious scientist from Hitler’s clutches; THE LAST CAMPAIGN, in which H. W. Brands follows the lives of General William Tecumseh Sherman and Apache war leader Geronimo to tell the story of the Indian Wars and the final fight for control of the American continent; THE BEST FRIEND, a dark, suspenseful novel and first stand-alone from Jessica Fellowes that revolves around the intense, toxic friendship of two kindred spirits across their lifetimes; Namwali Serpell's THE FURROWS, a bold exploration of memory and mourning that twists unexpectedly into a story of mistaken identity, double consciousness, and the wishful --- and sometimes willful --- longing for reunion with those we’ve lost; and the paperback original CALL THE DARK by J. Todd Scott, a haunting thriller about a young plane crash survivor and a mysterious hiker who venture into the wilderness to escape a dark and vengeful force.

Read more »

Week of September 11, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of September 11th include Elizabeth Strout's LUCY BY THE SEA, a poignant, pitch-perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdown --- and the love, loss, despair and hope that animate us even as the world seems to be falling apart; THE WINNERS, the breathtaking conclusion to Fredrik Backman's Beartown trilogy, a story about first loves, second chances and last goodbyes; ELIZABETH TAYLOR by Kate Andersen Brower, the first-ever authorized biography of one of the most famous movie stars of the 20th century; ACT OF OBLIVION, a spellbinding novel from Robert Harris that brilliantly imagines one of the greatest manhunts in history --- the search for two Englishmen involved in the killing of King Charles I and the implacable foe on their trail; and ONE HUNDRED SATURDAYS, the remarkable story of 99-year-old Stella Levi, whose conversations with writer Michael Frank over the course of six years bring to life the vibrant world of Jewish Rhodes, the deportation to Auschwitz that extinguished 90 percent of her community, and the resilience and wisdom of the woman who lived to tell the tale.

Read more »

Week of September 4, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of September 4th include MAD HONEY by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves; Marie Benedict's THE MITFORD AFFAIR, an explosive novel of history's most notorious sisters, one of whom will have to choose: her country or her sisters?; THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT, Lynda Cohen Loigman's heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to realize their unique talent of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places; BURNING QUESTIONS, a brilliant selection of essays --- including three new pieces --- from Margaret Atwood, who offers her funny, erudite, endlessly curious and uncannily prescient take on everything from whether or not THE HANDMAID'S TALE is a dystopia to the importance of how to define granola; and THE QUEEN by Andrew Morton, the definitive, most comprehensive account of Queen Elizabeth II's legendary reign.

Read more »