“Sometimes when life’s Warning Light won’t stop flashing, the best thing you can do is just put some electrician’s tape over it.” – Jason Pargin, If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe
Bad Liar by Tami Hoag
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Small-town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel. Can anyone ever escape their past?
A murder victim dumped at the dead end of a lonely country road, face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast, is not the way sheriff’s detective Nick Fourcade wants to start his week. His only lead takes him to the family of a hometown hero suddenly gone missing. Marc Mercier left his home for a weekend hunting trip and hasn’t been seen since.
Meanwhile, sheriff’s detective Annie Broussard begins her first day back on the job after suffering a brutal attack by taking on the case of B’Lynn Fontenot, a mother desperate to find her grown son, a recovering drug addict. Robbie Fontenot has been missing for eight days, but the local police have no interest in the case, telling B’Lynn that an adult has the right to disappear, and a missing addict is no big surprise. But B’Lynn swears her son was turning his life around. Sympathetic to a mother’s anguish, Annie agrees to help B’Lynn, knowing she’s about to start a turf war with the city police.
As Annie searches for Robbie Fontenot and Nick investigates the disappearance of Marc Mercier, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems in the lives of either man. And it’s still not clear whether either—or neither—of them might be the unidentified murder victim. Old jealousies and fresh deceits, family loyalties gone wrong and love turned sour all lay a twisting trail that leads deep into the Louisiana swamp, endangering all who cross the path of a bad liar.
“The author of The Boy is back with a gripping murder mystery featuring fan-favorite characters and a fresh new story.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Hoag sketches Robby, Marc, and B’Lynn with remarkable depth and sensitivity, and keeps the plot moving at a brisk clip through many twists and turns. This will please series fans and newcomers alike.” – Publishers Weekly
“Hoag perfectly captures the Cajun dialect and way of life, the dark, steamy atmosphere of the Louisiana bayous, the claustrophobia of small-town life, lost dreams, dashed hopes, and tragic lives in this five-star read with a powerful, sucker-punch ending.” – Emily Melton, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi by Wright Thompson ★
nonfiction / true crime / history.
Wright Thompson’s family farm in Mississippi is 23 miles from the site of one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history, yet he had to leave the state for college before he learned the first thing about it. To this day, fundamental truths about the crime are widely unknown, including where it took place and how many people were involved. This is no accident: the cover-up began at once, and it is ongoing.
In August 1955, two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were charged with the torture and murder of the 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. After their inevitable acquittal in a mockery of justice, they gave a false confession to a journalist, which was misleading about where the long night of hell took place and who was involved. In fact, Wright Thompson reveals, at least eight people can be placed at the scene, which was inside the barn of one of the killers, on a plot of land within the six-square-mile grid whose official name is Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, fabled in the Delta of myth as the birthplace of the blues on nearby Dockery Plantation.
Even in the context of the racist caste regime of the time, the four-hour torture and murder of a Black boy barely in his teens for whistling at a young white woman was acutely depraved; Till’s mother Mamie Till-Mobley’s decision to keep the casket open seared the crime indelibly into American consciousness. Wright Thompson has a deep understanding of this story—the world of the families of both Emmett Till and his killers, and all the forces that aligned to place them together on that spot on the map. As he shows, the full horror of the crime was its inevitability, and how much about it we still need to understand. Ultimately this is a story about property, and money, and power, and white supremacy. It implicates all of us. In The Barn, Thompson brings to life the small group of dedicated people who have been engaged in the hard, fearful business of bringing the truth to light. Putting the killing floor of the barn on the map of Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, and the Delta, and America, is a way of mapping the road this country must travel if we are to heal our oldest, deepest wound.
“A profoundly affecting, brilliantly narrated story of both an infamous murder and its unexpected consequences.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Carefully weighing each word as though it’s being set on the scales of justice, Thompson presents a deeply felt and vitally written history of conscience with infinite consequence.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[Thompson] has written a gut-punch of a book about the murder of Emmett Till and the place where it happened. Foregoing the harrowing photos that emphasize Till’s martyrdom, Thompson dives instead into family trees, court transcripts, witness memoirs and more to unearth the enormous human tragedy we forget at our peril: ‘Hate grows stronger and resistant,’ he reminds us, ‘when it’s pushed underground.’” – Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times
“The Barn is the perfect combination of suspense, history, and truth. Within these pages, readers will journey alongside Thompson as he unearths the chilling details of the murder of Emmett Till. Through meticulous research and a gripping narrative, Thompson reckons with the complexities surrounding this case and the systemic corruption that relentlessly works to bury the truth.” – Morgan Menzies, SheReads
The Burning Earth: A History by Sunil Amrith
nonfiction / history / science / nature.
In this magisterial book, historian Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, of genocide and eco-cide, of an extraordinary expansion of human freedom and its planetary costs. Drawing on an extraordinarily rich diversity of primary sources, he reckons with the ruins of Portuguese silver mining in Peru, British gold mining in South Africa, and oil extraction in Central Asia. He explores the railroads and highways that brought humans to new terrains of battle against each other and against stubborn nature. Amrith’s account of the ways in which the First and Second World Wars involved the massive mobilization not only of men, but of other natural resources from around the globe, provides an essential new way of understanding war as an irreversible reshaping of the planet. So too does this book reveal the reality of migration as consequence of environmental harm.
The imperial, globe-spanning pursuit of profit, joined with new forms of energy and new possibilities of freedom from hunger and discomfort, freedom to move and explore, has brought change to every inch of the Earth. Amrith relates in gorgeous prose, and on the largest canvas, a mind-altering epic—vibrant with stories, characters, and vivid images—in which humanity might find the collective wisdom to save itself.
“An accessible, harrowing history of our planet: what we’ve done to it, where we’re headed, what we can do to save it.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“There have been similar books attempting histories of this kind, but the global scope of the examples really sets The Burning Earth apart. It’s an engaging read, full of anecdotes and asides, eyewitness testimonies, unexpected connections.” – Jeremy Williams, The Earthbound Report
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk; translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones ★
fiction / horror / historical fiction.
September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen in the village of Görbersdorf, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone—or something—seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.
A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, with signature boldness, inventiveness, humor, and bravura.
“Readers will come for the eerie atmosphere but stay for the searing critique of society’s tendency to discard its most vulnerable if it means maintaining a semblance of safety.” – Leah von Essen, Booklist
“Olga Tokarczuk’s deft, dark satirical wit is on full display in The Empusium, which challenges the rigid patriarchal world of pre-WWI Europe with horror and humor.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“Tokarczuk’s latest work reckons with some of the major intellectual questions of the 20th century while simultaneously spinning a mysterious—and spooky—web of intrigue and suspense. A crucial addition to Tokarczuk’s oeuvre.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Tokarczuk uses rich and textured prose to create terror in the valley… Tokarczuk’s characterisation is so perfectly executed that many self-aggrandising conversations between the short-of-breath intellectuals that walk the sanitorium’s grounds are as insufferable for the reader as the men espousing them… Through Wojnicz’s eyes Tokarczuk offers dysphoric experience of embodiment rarely depicted in literature.” – Billie Walker, Big Issue
Final Cut by Charles Burns
fiction / graphic novel / horror.
As a child, Brian and his friend Jimmy would make sci-fi films in their yards, convincing their friends to star as victims of grisly murders, smearing lipstick on the “bodies” to simulate blood. Now a talented artist and aspiring filmmaker, Brian, along with Jimmy, Jimmy’s friend Tina, and Laurie—his reluctant muse—sets off to a remote cabin in the woods with an old 8 millimeter camera to make a true sci-fi horror movie, an homage to Brian’s favorite movie: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But as Brian’s affections for Laurie go seemingly unreciprocated, Brian writes and draws himself into a fantasy where she is the girl of his dreams, his damsel in distress, and his savior wrapped into one. Rife with references to classic sci-fi and horror movies and filled with panels of stunning depictions of nature, film and the surreal, Burns blurs the line between Brian’s dreams and reality, imagination and perception. A master of the form at his finest, Final Cut is an astonishing look at what it means to truly express oneself through art.
“A striking celebration of cinema’s power and a chilling acknowledgment of its limitations.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“The manias of art-making and adolescent lust are brilliantly rendered by Burns… Rarely has the pursuit of art been more potently characterized as a substitute for love and acceptance. With perfectly attuned emotional and aesthetic details, it’s an instant classic from a master of the form.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…thematically complex and emotionally resonant… A stunningly illustrated exploration of alienation, obsession, and the experience of yearning for connection with another human being, particularly when one feels that they are only capable of expressing themselves through art.” – Tom Batten, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
I’m Sorry for My Loss: An Urgent Examination of Reproductive Care in America by Rebecca Little & Colleen Long
nonfiction / memoir / politics / science / health.
More than a million people lose a pregnancy each year, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth, or termination for medical reasons. For most, the experience often casts a shadow of isolation, shame, and blame. In the aftermath of the 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade, 25 million people of childbearing age live in states with laws that restrict access to abortion, including for those who never wanted to end their pregnancies. How did we get here?
Rebecca Little and Colleen Long, childhood friends who grew up to be journalists, both experienced late-term loss, and together they take an incisive, deeply reported look at the issue, working to shatter taboos that have made so many pregnant people feel ashamed and alone. They trace the experience of pregnancy loss and reproductive care from America’s founding to the present day, exposing the deep impact made by a dangerous tangle of laws, politics, medicine, racism, and misogyny. Combining powerful personal narratives with exhaustive research, I’m Sorry for My Loss is a comprehensive examination on how pregnancy loss came to be so stigmatized and politicized, and why a system of more compassionate care is critical for everyone.
“Sobering and well researched, this book lays bare major fault lines in a maternal reproductive care system in dire need of radical transformation. Necessary, thoughtful, and heartfelt.” – Kirkus Reviews
I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin
fiction / science fiction / comedy / mystery / suspense.
Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.
But there are rules:
He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.
As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.
The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.
“Wacky, thoughtful, and fun.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Strident and timely, the dark humor of this wild standalone adventure from Pargin evokes satirists like Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams for a new age… ultimately leads to some harsh truths about life in the digital age and offers a surprising amount of hope for the future. It’s a raucous roller-coaster ride.” – Publishers Weekly
“[Pargin] manages to tap into some very real frights, including but not limited to incel uprisings, domestic terrorism and the psychological dangers of being perpetually online… the highlight of the experience for me was finding unironic nuggets of both wisdom and genuine vulnerability hidden among Ether’s witty trivia and Abbot’s immature rants… packs one a hell of a punch once you remember that we’re only a couple of news stories away from this satire becoming reality.” – Luiz H.C., Bloody Disgusting
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney ★
fiction.
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
“Stylistically daring, emotionally explosive, and endlessly wise, this is Rooney’s best work yet.” – Charley Burlock, Oprah Daily
“…boldly experimental and emotionally devastating… Even the author’s skeptics are liable to be swept away by this novel’s forceful currents of feeling.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The First Great Millennial Novelist has outdone herself… wonderfully clever and convincing, a big meaty novel that you’ll feel compelled to speed through.” – Emily Temple, Literary Hub
“Rooney’s fourth novel might be her best yet: a tale of depth and grand sweep, an understated study of characters caught circling the margin of some great and unknown thing, and a diversion of pure enjoyment, too.” – Annie Bostrom, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
The Last Dream by Pedro Almodóvar; translated by Frank Wynne
fiction / nonfiction / short stories / essays.
With this debut collection, film legend Pedro Almodóvar delivers a tantalizing glimpse into his world, formed by twelve stories carefully selected from his personal writings dating from the late ‘60s to the present. Almodóvar writes: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I’ve always refused… I’ve never kept a diary, and whenever I’ve tried, I’ve never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little enigmatic.”
Each entry reflects Almodóvar’s most intimate obsessions, as well as his evolution as an artist. In the title story, “The Last Dream,” Almodóvar reflects on the death of his mother. Other entries in the collection include a love story between Jesus and Barabbas, a story of retribution that formed the basis for the film Bad Education, a manic adventure about a film director searching for painkillers on a bank holiday weekend, and a gothic tale centered around a repentant vampire.
“The director’s fans will find much to admire in this potpourri of ideas and images.” – Publishers Weekly
“Sometimes surreal, sometimes prurient, sometimes discomfiting—and every page worth reading.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Is Almodóvar telling us his life story via fiction and snippets of memoir? No, not really. It’s more that he’s giving us a glimpse into his mind (or perhaps his soul), not telling us his life story—that would almost be too mundane for this iconoclastic director—but rather showing us who he is and has been. Fans of Almodóvar’s films should seek this out and read it carefully.” – David Pitt, Booklist
Life in the Key of G by Kenny G with Philip Lerman
nonfiction / memoir / music.
He’s world renowned as the best-selling instrumentalist of all time, but there’s a lot about Kenny G that even his legions of devoted fans have never known—until now.
In honest and heartfelt prose, Kenny G shares how skinny Kenneth Gorelick, the kid who got hassled for his lunch money in a Seattle high school, became one of the most celebrated and revered virtuosos in the music industry. He uncovers how he’s managed to rise above the fray, tune out the critics, and live a life filled with happiness and humor.
Few people know of Kenny G’s musical roots as the sole white guy in one of the coolest funk bands of the seventies, or as the teenage backup musician for everyone from Barry White to Liberace. As an artist he’s dedicated to turning the next generation on to jazz heroes like Grover Washington, John Coltrane, and Stan Getz. A man who takes his music seriously but himself not so seriously, Kenny G lets readers behind the scenes to see how he creates his unique sound and unforgettable songs. Along the way, he offers life lessons in discipline, determination, and dedication.
Life in the Key of G leads readers on a tour of one of the great musical careers of the twentieth century, from the time he pulled a fast one on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show—a bold gamble that launched his stardom—to famed duets with legends like Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, and more.
As Kenny G likes to say, “Try it. You’ll have the best sax you ever had.”
“Feel-good reading from a feel-good musical artist.” – Kirkus Reviews
“This story of triumph and perseverance is an inspiration for all, and for fans of Kenny G, it’s the window into how he became the person he is.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Though it often seems like disparaging the man and his music is the cool thing to do, Kenny G’s memoir reveals someone who is dedicated to his family and craft, has a sense of humor about himself, and who comes off as genuinely grateful, happy, and quite possibly the nicest guy in music.” – Carlos Orellana, Booklist
Playground by Richard Powers ★
fiction / science fiction.
Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.
They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.
Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.
“…vivid and ambitious… a love letter to the natural world… Playground is ravishing in its descriptions of an underwater universe as fragile as it is ancient and unyielding.” – Taylor Antrim, Vogue
“Powers does for oceans in Playground what he did for forests in The Overstory… Rhapsodic with wonder, electric with cautionary facts and insights, Powers’ profound and involving novel illuminates the conundrums of human nature and the gravely endangered ocean deep.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“A characterful, capacious and engaging novel, distilling subjects as diverse as oceanography, climate change, the legacies of colonialism and the arc of a lifelong friendship into an exhilaratingly entangled narrative in which Powers’ unparalleled gifts for revealing the magic and mystery of the natural world are on full display.” – The Booker Prizes
“[A] novel of spectacular thematic scope and surreal drama… Playground glides across the final decades of the 20th century and spills into the present day, culminating in a dramatic vision for mankind’s oceanic and land-based future.” – Shahina Piyarali, Shelf Awareness
A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg ★
fiction / historical fiction.
The women of the Cohen family are in crisis. Triggered by the death of their patriarch, Rudy, the glue that held them all together, everyone’s lives soon take a dramatic turn.
Shelly, the younger of the two Cohen sisters, runs off to the West Coast to immerse herself in the emerging (and lucrative) world of technology. Her sister, Nancy, gets married at the age of twenty-one to a traveling salesman with a shadowy lifestyle, while their mother, Frieda, hurls herself into a boozy, troubled existence in Miami, trying to forget the past even as it haunts her.
But they each learn in different ways that running from the past can’t save you—and then must make life-altering decisions about what they want their family to be and what they need to move forward.
Beginning in the 1970s and spanning forty years, A Reason to See You Again takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic journey through motherhood, the American workforce, the tech industry, the self-help movement, inherited trauma, the ever-evolving ways we communicate with one another, and the many unexpected forms that love can take.
“[A] moving epic about the endurance of family love.” – Kristyn Kusek Lewis, Real Simple
“…entertaining and empathic… Quite a lot happens—careers begin and flourish, love affairs start and end, addictions meet their match—and, as time ticks up to the late aughts, those little phones start to change everything. But much remains the same, too, and readers will happily sit with these women through it all.” – Annie Bostrom, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Attenberg’s characters are as loveable as they are maddening, and the combination of choices and luck makes the novel’s events feel as random–and genuine–as real life… another masterful dysfunctional family story…” – Rebecca Foster, Shelf Awareness
“Glimmers of humor lift a narrative that time-hops and head-hops, as the Cohen women come together and fall apart, squabble and make up… Attenberg’s fans will enjoy this novel, as will those who like sharply observed dysfunctional mother-daughter stories.” – Liz French, Library Journal
The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
nonfiction / biography / history.
In The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn’t make it into the textbooks. Not the presidents, but the telephone operators. Not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. Through meticulous research, she discovers history’s unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time.
You’ll meet a woman astride a white horse riding down Pennsylvania Ave, a young boy detained at a Japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman on a mission to reunite with her daughter, a poet on a train, and a teacher who learns to work with her enemies. More than one thing is bombed, and multiple people surprisingly become rich. Some rich with money, and some wealthy with things that matter more.
This is a book about what really made America – and Americans – great. McMahon’s cast of improbable champions will become familiar friends, lighting the path we journey in our quest to make the world more just, peaceful, good, and free.
“[McMahon’s] carefully researched book is just plain fun to read… An accessible, cheerful, and affectionate portrait of Americans who, though little known, made a difference.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] fun dive into history… Reading the book is a breeze and, occasionally, an outrage because these stories should be more widely known… mighty good.” – Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune
Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente
fiction / science fiction / comedy.
The Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past returns and the fate of the Earth is once again threatened. The civilizations opposed to humanity have been plotting and want to take down the upstarts. Can humanity rise again in this sequel to the beloved Hugo Award–nominated national bestselling Space Opera by New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente?
“Valente’s signature stylistic whimsy is very much on display here, and fans will certainly enjoy this answer to ‘what happens after you save the world.’” – Regina Schroeder, Booklist
“[A] glittering cacophony of extended metaphors and weird imagery… Dense, elaborate, and wacky, this reads like Douglas Adams writing on a sugar high.” – Publishers Weekly
“Here is a way to carry the magic of the summer song contest into fall, while building on what made Space Opera fun; this time around, Earth is in the position to sponsor a new world’s entry into the Grand Prix.” – Natalie Zutter, Literary Hub
Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror by Jack Carr & James M. Scott
nonfiction / history.
1983: the United States Marine Corps experiences its greatest single-day loss of life since the Battle of Iwo Jima when a truck packed with explosives crashes into their headquarters and barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. This horrifying terrorist attack, which killed 241 servicemen, continues to influence US foreign policy and haunts the Marine Corps to this day.
Now, the full story is revealed as never before by Jack Carr and historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott. Based on comprehensive interviews with survivors, extensive military records, as well as personal letters, diaries, and photographs, this is the authoritative account of the deadly attack.
“…more than a simple retelling of the story… [weaves] a compelling narrative that provides a fresh view of the bombing. Readers get the entire story of this pivotal moment in U.S. military history, from the boots on the ground in Lebanon to the Oval Office of President Ronald Reagan himself.” – Together We Served
“Using survivor interviews, military records and other documents, Carr carefully compiles a behind-the-scenes look at the story… Target: Beirut is nonfiction history from the perspectives of those who were there, and is as engrossing as anything in Carr’s The Terminal List series.” – Blake Stilwell, Military.com
“Carr and Scott create an emotionally packed account that is worthy of many accolades, as they detail the disaster through raw and unfiltered storytelling, capturing a moment in time when lives were changed forever.” – Chris Miller, The Best Thriller Books
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner
fiction / fantasy / mystery / comedy.
Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count… but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.
When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon.
This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers alike: Never mess with a librarian.
“This cozy paranormal mystery is full of likable, quirky characters.” – Kristin Skinner, Library Reads
“…Waggoner melds lush imagery, humor, and a surprise twist into a contemporary paranormal mystery that will have readers clamoring for more of Sherry the librarian.” – Lucy Lockley, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Waggoner takes the cozy mystery in a beguiling new direction… Waggoner makes nimble and entertaining use of cozy mystery tropes while also constructing Winesap’s larger supernatural conflict with careful attention to detail. Meanwhile, plentiful humor and endearing budding friendships give the story heart. Fantasy fans who also watched Murder, She Wrote and wondered about the abnormally high murder rate in Cabot Cove will especially want to check this one out.” – Publishers Weekly
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