It’s a new week, and with it comes new books. Those who love a good mystery especially have reason to rejoice as 4 of this week’s titles belong to that or the suspense genre. A few big name authors have new books out this week too, like Nora Roberts, David Sedaris, and Ruth Ware. All in all it’s a pretty exciting week for us book lovers!
FICTION
Another Side of Paradise by Sally Koslow
In 1937 Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheilah Graham’s star is on the rise, while literary wonder boy F. Scott Fitzgerald’s career is slowly drowning in booze. But the once-famous author, desperate to make money penning scripts for the silver screen, is charismatic enough to attract the gorgeous Miss Graham, a woman who exposes the secrets of others while carefully guarding her own. Like Scott’s hero Jay Gatsby, Graham has meticulously constructed a life far removed from the poverty of her childhood in London’s slums. And like Gatsby, the onetime guttersnipe learned early how to use her charms to become a hardworking success feted and feared by both the movie studios and their luminaries.
A notorious drunk famously married to the doomed “crazy Zelda,” Fitzgerald fell hard for his “Shielah” (he never learned to spell her name), a shrewd yet soft-hearted woman—both a fool for love and nobody’s fool—who would stay with him and help revive his career until his tragic death three years later. Working from diaries and other primary sources from the time, Sally Koslow revisits their scandalous love affair, bringing Graham and Scott gloriously alive in this compelling page-turner saturated with the color, glitter, magic, and passion of 1930s Hollywood and Sheilah’s dramatic transformation in London.
Description from Goodreads.
“This intimate nothing-held-back work is a pleasure from the first lines to the last and will linger with many a reader.” – Historical Novel Society
“Koslow’s writing is vibrant and colorful, and the denizens of Scott’s world are ably summed up in a few pithy swipes: ‘In 1935, Dorothy [Parker] was a wicked, eyelash-batting pixie willing to catapult into any conversation.’ A stylish reiteration of a sad, oft-told tale.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Koslow may be rewriting a feel-good version of the Graham-Fitzgerald romance, but it’s an intoxicating one.” – Publishers Weekly
Available Formats:
MYSTERY & SUSPENSE
The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.
Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
Description from Goodreads.
“A classic never goes out of style. Consider the confident simplicity of the dry martini, the Edison lightbulb and Meghan Markle’s wedding dress. Now, add to that list Ruth Ware’s new novel, The Death of Mrs. Westaway… a perfectly executed suspense tale very much in the mode of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.” – Washington Post
“The best-selling writer of psychological thrillers (In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10) has a new winner… the situation grows increasingly complicated and creepy, Agatha Christie-style.” – AARP
“Ware’s fourth novel is her best yet, with steadily increasing tension, a complicated twisty mystery, and a sharp, sympathetic heroine who’s up to the challenge of solving it… well-crafted, gothic-tinged suspense.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“”Evocative prose, artfully shaded characters, and a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere keep the pages of this explosive family drama turning.” – Publishers Weekly
Available Formats:
Print Book | Audiobook | Playaway | eBook | eAudiobook
The Dante Chamber by Matthew Pearl
The year is 1870. Five years after a series of Dante-inspired killings disrupted Boston, a man is found murdered in the public gardens of London with an enormous stone around his neck etched with a verse from the Divine Comedy. When more mysterious murders erupt across the city, all in the style of the punishments Dante memorialized in Purgatory, poet Christina Rossetti fears her brother, the Dante-obsessed artist and writer Gabriel Rossetti, will be the next victim.
Christina enlists poets Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson, and famous scholar Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, to assist in deciphering the literary clues. Together these unlikely investigators rush to unravel the secrets of Dante’s verses in order to find Gabriel and stop the killings. Racing between the shimmering mansions of the elite and the dark corners of London’s underworld, they descend further and further into the mystery. But when the true inspiration behind the gruesome murders is finally revealed, Christina realizes that the perpetrator has even bigger and more horrific plans than she had initially thought.
A dazzling tale of intrigue from the writer Library Journal calls “the reigning king of popular literary historical thrillers,” The Dante Chamber is a riveting adventure across London and through Dante. Expertly blending fact and fiction, Pearl gives us a historical mystery like no other, captivating and enthralling until the last page.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] well-wrought sequel of sorts…Displaying extensive knowledge of the period and the writers, Pearl builds an intricate, well-layered plot…His focus on Christina among several imposing male writers…is also a refreshing choice and produces a complex, appealing character. A thoroughly entertaining excursion to the literary England of the late 19th century with some ink-stained amateur detectives.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Pearl uses his literary knowledge to excellent effect as he crafts a sinister tale of obsession and manipulation.” – Library Journal
Available Formats:
Don’t Believe It by Charlie Donlea
“The Girl of Sugar Beach” is the most watched documentary in television history—a riveting, true-life mystery that unfolds over twelve weeks and centers on a fascinating question: Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a Spring Break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work? Grace has spent the last ten years in a St. Lucian prison, and reaches out to filmmaker Sidney Ryan in a last, desperate attempt to prove her innocence.
As Sidney begins researching, she uncovers startling evidence, additional suspects, and timeline issues that were all overlooked during the original investigation. Before the series even finishes filming, public outcry leads officials to reopen the case. But as the show surges towards its final episodes, Sidney receives a letter saying that she got it badly, terribly wrong.
Sidney has just convinced the world that Grace is innocent. Now she wonders if she has helped to free a ruthless killer. Delving into Grace’s past, she peels away layer after layer of deception. But as Sidney edges closer to the real heart of the story, she must decide if finding the truth is worth risking her newfound fame, her career . . . even her life.
Description from Goodreads.
“This book is outstanding from every viewpoint. …a tightly constructed novel that takes no prisoners.” – Queensland Reviewers Collective
“…riveting… Donlea splices Sidney’s investigation with excerpted scenes from the documentary and jury room, creating a fast-paced narration that mimics TV shows’ frequent scene shifts…” – Publishers Weekly
Available Formats:
Arctic Gambit by Larry Bond
Jerry Mitchell, now the commodore of submarine Development Squadron Five, is dismayed when USS Toledo is reported missing in Arctic waters, close to Russian territory. The vessel is captained by his former shipmate and close friend, Lenny Berg. Eager to investigate, Jerry convinces the Navy to redirect one of his squadron’s boats to find out what happened.
It turns out Toledo was sunk just outside of Russian territorial waters by a torpedo launched from a naval mine. Even more disturbing is the discovery that Russia is building a deadly weapon. Engineers have modified the STATUS-6, a strategic nuclear-propelled, nuclear armed torpedo that is already operational, into a stealthy first strike weapon: Drakon. This new tool would allow the Russians to launch a completely covert nuclear decapitation strike on the USA.
The new Russian president has plans for Europe, and is more than willing to use nuclear blackmail—or an actual attack—to keep the Americans from interfering. To avoid a Russian war in Europe, and a nuclear catastrophe at home, Mitchell must find a way to destroy the Drakon launcher before it’s too late.
Description from Goodreads.
“Bond’s latest novel features a fast-moving plot that hits with the force of a torpedo, knocking readers back into their reading chairs while daring them to put the book down. Trust me, you won’t be able to. . . This is vintage Larry Bond, and Arctic Gambit is the must-read naval thriller of the year.” – The Real Book Spy
“Military action fans …will be well satisfied.” – Publishers Weekly
Available Formats:
ROMANCE
Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts
Sometimes, there is nowhere safe to hide.
It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at the video-game store tended to customers. Then the shooters arrived.
The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed, one would dedicate himself to a law enforcement career. Another would close herself off, trying to bury the memory of huddling in a ladies’ room, hopelessly clutching her cell phone–until she finally found a way to pour her emotions into her art.
But one person wasn’t satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait–and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.
Description from Goodreads.
“Roberts’ newest is part thriller, part romance, part survivors’ psychological study with a touch of New Age magic―and a lively, captivating read.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[The] real draw is the story, which has some welcome red herrings and a page-turning brio that elevates it above the average thriller.” – Publishers Weekly
Available Formats:
Print Book | Audiobook | Playaway | eBook
NONFICTION
Calypso by David Sedaris
If you’ve ever laughed your way through David Sedaris’s cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you’re getting with Calypso. You’d be wrong.
When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it’s impossible to take a vacation from yourself.
With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny-it’s a book that can make you laugh ’til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris’s powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.
This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris’s darkest and warmest book yet-and it just might be his very best.
Description from Goodreads.
“The king of the humorous essay returns with a brand-new collection — his first in five years. Sedaris fans will find plenty of familiar delights: His misanthropic charms and wry wit are as delightful as ever, even if some of the subject matter has changed. From his new vacation home on the coast of North Carolina, he writes about the concerns of health and aging, treating us to a story about the persnickety doctor who refused to let him keep a noncancerous tumor that he’d planned to feed to a snapping turtle once removed. We can only assume that the audiobook version of Calypso will be the perfect travel companion during road trips and getaways this spring and beyond.” – New York Magazine
“Sedaris collects 21 essays largely about family bonds and getting older in this hilarious yet tender volume…The author’s fans and newcomers alike will be richly rewarded by this sidesplitting collection.”―Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Available Formats:
Print Book | Audiobook | eBook
Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall–and Those Fighting to Reverse It by Steven Brill
In this revelatory narrative covering the years 1967 to 2017, Steven Brill gives us a stunningly cogent picture of the broken system at the heart of our society. He shows us how, over the last half-century, America’s core values–meritocracy, innovation, due process, free speech, and even democracy itself–have somehow managed to power its decline into dysfunction. They have isolated our best and brightest, whose positions at the top have never been more secure or more remote. The result has been an erosion of responsibility and accountability, an epidemic of shortsightedness, an increasingly hollow economic and political center, and millions of Americans gripped by apathy and hopelessness. By examining the people and forces behind the rise of big-money lobbying, legal and financial engineering, the demise of private-sector unions, and a hamstrung bureaucracy, Brill answers the question on everyone’s mind: How did we end up this way? Finally, he introduces us to those working quietly and effectively to repair the damages. At once a diagnosis of our national ills, a history of their development, and a prescription for a brighter future, Tailspin is a work of riveting journalism–and a welcome antidote to political despair.
Description from Goodreads.
“Penetrating . . . in large part because of Brill’s skill in presenting abstruse legal and financial developments in an accessible manner. . . . [A] clarifying and invaluable overview.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[Brill] offers ample evidence that American democracy is in peril. . . . Hard-hitting.” – Kirkus Reviews