Fiction

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

"Filled with detail and imagination . . . Aaronovitch is a name to watch."--Peter F. Hamilton

"Fresh, original, and a wonderful read . . . I loved it."--Charlaine Harris

The Doctor takes Romana for a holiday in Paris--a city which, like a fine wine, has a bouquet all of its own. Especially if you visit during one of the vintage years. But the TARDIS takes them to 1979, a year whose vintage is soured by cracks in the very fabric of time itself.

Soon they are embroiled in an alien scheme which encompasses home-made time machines, the theft of the Mona Lisa, the resurrection of the much-feared Jagaroth race, and the beginning (and quite possibly the end) of all life on Earth.

It's up to the Doctor and Romana to thwart the machinations of the suave, mysterious Count Scarlioni--all twelve of him--if the human race has any chance of survival.

But then, the Doctor's holidays tend to turn out a bit like this.

The newspaper refers to the body only as Victim 2117--the two thousand one hundred and seventeenth refugee to die in the Mediterranean Sea. But to three people, the unnamed victim is so much more, and the death sets off a chain of events that throws Department Q, Copenhagen's cold cases division led by Detective Carl Mørck, into a deeply dangerous--and deeply personal--case. A case that not only reveals dark secrets about the past, but has deadly implications for the future.

For troubled Danish teen Alexander, whose identity is hidden behind his computer screen, the death of Victim 2117 becomes a symbol of everything he resents and the perfect excuse to unleash his murderous impulses in real life. For Ghaalib, one of the most brutal tormentors from Abu Ghraib--Saddam Hussein's infamous prison--the death of Victim 2117 is the first step in a terrorist plot years in the making. And for Department Q's Assad, Victim 2117 is a link to his buried past--and the family he assumed was long dead.

With the help of the Department Q squad--Carl, Rose, and Gordon--Assad must finally confront painful memories from his years in the Middle East in order to find and capture Ghaalib. But with the clock ticking down to Alexander's first kill and Ghaalib's devastating attack, the thinly spread Department Q will need to stay one step ahead of their most lethal adversary yet if they are to prevent the loss of thousands of innocent lives.

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction)

A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago Public Library * The New York Public Library * BookPage * The Globe and Mail * EW.com * The LA Times * USA Today

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong.

From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped--and unexpected new ones are forged--in moments of crisis.

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple--it's their house, and they've arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area--with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service--it's hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple--and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?

Andrea says: A dystopian novel involving privilege, race and maturity. Disturbing and timely.

If you loved The Vacation by T.M. Logan, get ready for your new obsession...

Orla and Kate have been best friends forever. Together they've faced it all - be it Orla's struggles as a new mother or Kate's messy divorce. And whatever else happens in their lives, they can always look forward to their annual weekend away.

This year, they're off to Lisbon: the perfect flat, the perfect view, the perfect itinerary. And what better way to kick things off in style than with the perfect night out?

But when Orla wakes up the next morning, Kate is gone. Brushed off by the police and with only a fuzzy memory of the night's events, Orla is her friend's only hope. As she frantically retraces their steps, Orla makes a series of shattering discoveries that threaten everything she holds dear. Because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth may lie closer to home...

A twisty holiday read for fans of The Holiday and Date Night.

Our Shared Shelf, Emma Watson Goodreads Book Club Pick November/December 2020!

The House of the Spirits, the unforgettable first novel that established Isabel Allende as one of the world's most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.

One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.

Julia Alvarez's new novel, Afterlife, is available now.

New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews returns with another Meg Langslow mystery written "firmly in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie's Christmas books" (Toronto Globe and Mail).

It's Christmastime in Caerphilly and Meg, full of holiday spirit, is helping out with the town's festivities. While directing a nativity pageant and herding the children participating in it, she finds a surprise in the manger: a live baby.

A note from the mother, attached to the baby girl's clothes, says that it's time for her father to take care of her--and implicates Meg's brother, Rob, as the father. And while a DNA test can reveal whether there's any truth to the accusation, Rob's afraid the mere suspicion could derail his plan to propose to the woman he loves. Meg quickly realizes it's up to her to find the baby's real identity.

She soon discovers that the baby--named Lark according to the fateful note--may be connected to something much bigger. Something that eventually puts a growing number of Meg's friends and family in danger. And before long, Meg realizes she can't fix things single-handedly. Meanwhile, a war is brewing between Caerphilly and its arch-rival Clay County--and it's not a snowball fight. Can Meg bring everyone together in time for the holidays?

As in her previous Christmas mysteries, Andrews continues to write "firmly in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie's Christmas books" (Toronto Globe and Mail) with a book that will put cozy lovers everywhere in a holly jolly mood.

Gina Apostol's riotous second novel takes the form of a memoir by one Raymundo Mata, a half-blind bookworm and revolutionary, tracing his childhood, his education in Manila, his love affairs, and his discovery of writer and fellow revolutionary, Jose Rizal. Mata's 19th-century story is complicated by present-day foreword(s), afterword(s), and footnotes from three fiercely quarrelsome and comic voices: a nationalist editor, a neo-Freudian psychoanalyst critic, and a translator, Mimi C. Magsalin.

In telling the contested and fragmentary story of Mata, Apostol finds new ways to depict the violence of the Spanish colonial era, and to reimagine the nation's great writer, Jose Rizal, who was executed by the Spanish for his revolutionary activities, and is considered by many to be the father of Philippine independence.



The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata offers an intoxicating blend of fact and fiction, uncovering lost histories while building dazzling, anarchic modes of narrative.

"The innocence of childhood collides with the stark aftermath of war in this wrenching and ultimately redemptive tale of family, seemingly impossible choices, and the winding paths to destiny, which sometimes take us to places far beyond our imaginings." - Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends

Ardone's beautifully crafted story explores the meaning of identity and belonging...recommended to fans of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. - The Library Journal

Based on true events, a heartbreaking story of love, family, hope, and survival set in post-World War II Italy--written with the heart of Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours--about poor children from the south sent to live with families in the north to survive deprivation and the harsh winters.

Though Mussolini and the fascists have been defeated, the war has devastated Italy, especially the south. Seven-year-old Amerigo lives with his mother Antonietta in Naples, surviving on odd jobs and his wits like the rest of the poor in his neighborhood. But one day, Amerigo learns that a train will take him away from the rubble-strewn streets of the city to spend the winter with a family in the north, where he will be safe and have warm clothes and food to eat.

Together with thousands of other southern children, Amerigo will cross the entire peninsula to a new life. Through his curious, innocent eyes, we see a nation rising from the ashes of war, reborn. As he comes to enjoy his new surroundings and the possibilities for a better future, Amerigo will make the heartbreaking choice to leave his mother and become a member of his adoptive family.

Amerigo's journey is a moving story of memory, indelible bonds, artistry, and self-exploration, and a soaring examination of what family can truly mean. Ultimately Amerigo comes to understand that sometimes we must give up everything, even a mother's love, to find our destiny.

Astonishing...With the intensity of a perfect balance between the mythic and the real, The Rain Heron keeps turning and twisting, taking you to unexpected places. A deeply emotional and satisfying read. Beautifully written. --Jeff VanderMeer, author of Borne. One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021.

A gripping novel of myth, environment, adventure, and an unlikely friendship, from an award-winning Australian author

Spellbinding and immersive, Robbie Arnott's The Rain Heron is an astounding, mythical exploration of human resilience, female friendship, and humankind's precarious relationship to nature. As Ren and the soldier hunt for the heron, a bond between them forms, and the painful details of Ren's former life emerge--a life punctuated by loss, trauma, and a second, equally magical and dangerous creature. Slowly, Ren's and the soldier's lives entwine, unravel, and ultimately erupt in a masterfully crafted ending in which both women are forced to confront their biggest fears--and regrets.

Robbie Arnott, one of Australia's most acclaimed young novelists, sews magic into reality with a steady, confident hand. Bubbling with rare imagination and ambition, The Rain Heron is an emotionally charged and dazzling novel, one that asks timely yet eternal questions about environment, friendship, nationality, and the myths that bind us.

In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever.

Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.

Transcription is a work of rare depth and texture, a bravura modern novel of extraordinary power, wit, and empathy. It is a triumphant work of fiction from one of the best writers of our time.

Melanie says: MI5 agent and later turned BBC producer finds enemies she’d made have reappeared. For Anglophiles, fans of espionage, and comical witty language.

More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.

Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third: Aunt Lydia. Her complex past and uncertain future unfold in surprising and pivotal ways.

With The Testaments, Margaret Atwood opens up the innermost workings of Gilead, as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

The first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is among the most quoted in literature, and sets up the humorous and ultimately timeless tale of proper English society, unspoken intentions, and true love acquired. Pride and Prejudice is a classic that adeptly traces the intricacies of social status, manners, and relationship rituals in nineteenth-century England, through which all the love between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy eventually blossoms.

Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author's personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.

Read with confidence.

A People Book of the Week, Book of the Month Club selection, and Best of Fall in Good Housekeeping, PopSugar, The Washington Post, New York Post, Shondaland, CNN, and more!

"[A] quirky, big-hearted novel...Wry, wise, and often laugh-out-loud funny, it's a wholly original story that delivers pure pleasure." --People

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove comes a charming, poignant novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix their own marriage. There's a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them--the bank robber included--desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

Rich with Fredrik Backman's "pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature" (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope--the things that save us, even in the most anxious times.

Georgia says:  Anxious People is a humorous, heart-felt story of a bank robbery gone wrong that asks the questions: how, why and if any of us should keep on living.

"You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel new sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life." --People

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon--the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell."

But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Fredrik Backman's novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. "If there was an award for 'Most Charming Book of the Year, ' this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down" (Booklist, starred review).

For many long years, Atlee Pine was tormented by uncertainty after her twin sister, Mercy, was abducted at the age of six and never seen again. Now, just as Atlee is pressured to end her investigation into Mercy's disappearance, she finally gets her most promising breakthrough yet: the identity of her sister's kidnapper, Ito Vincenzo.

With time running out, Atlee and her assistant Carol Blum race to Vincenzo's last known location in Trenton, New Jersey -- and unknowingly stumble straight into John Puller's case, blowing his arrest during a drug ring investigation involving a military installation.

Stunningly, Pine and Puller's joint investigation uncovers a connection between Vincenzo's family and a breathtaking scheme that strikes at the very heart of global democracy. Peeling back the layers of deceit, lies and cover-ups, Atlee finally discovers the truth about what happened to Mercy. And that truth will shock Pine to her very core.

Tampa Bay joins Miami in representing the (alleged) Sunshine State in the Noir Series arena.

"At last, the popular Akashic Noir series has adopted the Tampa Bay area...The notion of elevating place to the status of a character in a story, a frequent topic in writers workshops, works to maximum effect. The descriptive forays are full of observations that can only be gleaned by living here."
--Tampa Bay Times

"A new collection of noir fiction features all sorts of miscreants finding their way through this part of Florida."
--Ocala Star Banner

"[A] lively collection of superior short stories."
--South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"[Tampa Bay Noir] has a contributor list that includes a handful of bestselling crime novelists, but more importantly, the stories are pretty excellent, too."
--Mystery Scene Magazine

"For too long readers have connected Florida Noir with the admittedly fascinating locales of Miami-Dade County, thanks to a slew of talented and popular writers no doubt, but there's another major metropolitan area on the Gulf Coast that's every bit Miami's equal for bizarre noir. Tampa Bay gets a much-deserved turn in the spotlight with this new collection in the Akashic series, edited by Colette Bancroft and featuring some stellar contributions from writers out of the greater Tampa diaspora, including Michael Connelly, Tim Dorsey, Sarah Gerard, Ace Atkins, and Lori Roy."
--CrimeReads, One of the Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020

"Books can transport us to faraway, exotic places we've never seen, but they can also show us new angles of familiar places we thought we knew. Places closer to home like Hyde Park, Tierra Verde, Davis Islands, Palma Ceia, Clearwater Beach, Pass-a-Grille, Indian Rocks Beach, Westshore, St. Petersburg's 34th Street, Gibsonton, Lake Maggiore, Pinellas Park, Largo, Safety Harbor and Rattlesnake. Those are the local settings--yes, Rattlesnake is a real place!--for the 15 stories collected in Tampa Bay Noir, an anthology of new crime fiction due out in August."
--Creative Pinellas

"Anyone who lives in the Tampa Bay area knows there are stories of intrigue here, just waiting to be told."
--The Gabber

"Being a local, it's cool to read about locations and think, 'I've been there.' Tampa has enough sordid and colorful history to deserve another volume."
--Ink19

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct location within the geographic area of the book.

Brand-new stories by: Michael Connelly, Lori Roy, Ace Atkins, Karen Brown, Tim Dorsey, Lisa Unger, Sterling Watson, Luis Castillo, Sarah Gerard, Danny López, Ladee Hubbard, Gale Massey, Yuly Restrepo Garcés, Eliot Schrefer, and Colette Bancroft.

From the introduction by Colette Bancroft:

Ask most people what the Tampa Bay area is famous for, and they might mention sparkling beaches and sleek urban centers and contented retirees strolling the golf courses year-round. But it's always had a dark side. Just look at its signature event: a giant pirate parade.

Not only does Gasparilla honor the buccaneer traditions of theft, debauchery, and violence; its namesake pirate captain, José Gaspar, is a fake who probably never existed. And if there's any variety of crime baked into Florida's history, it's fraud. From the indigenous residents who supposedly conned Spanish explorers seeking the Fountain of Youth through the rolling cycles of real estate scams that have shaped the Sunshine State for the last century or so, the place is a grifter's native habitat.

Soon to be an FX television show starring Lola Kirke.

Mona is twenty-six and cleans houses for a living in Taos, New Mexico. She moved there mostly because of a bad boyfriend--a junkie named Mr. Disgusting, long story--and her efforts to restart her life since haven't exactly gone as planned. For one thing, she's got another bad boyfriend. This one she calls Dark, and he happens to be married to one of Mona's clients. He also might be a little unstable.

Dark and his wife aren't the only complicated clients on Mona's roster, either. There's also the Hungarian artist couple who--with her addiction to painkillers and his lingering stares--reminds Mona of troubling aspects of her childhood, and some of the underlying reasons her life had to be restarted in the first place. As she tries to get over the heartache of her affair and the older pains of her youth, Mona winds up on an eccentric, moving journey of self-discovery that takes her back to her beginnings where she attempts to unlock the key to having a sense of home in the future. The only problems are Dark and her past. Neither is so easy to get rid of.

Jen Beagin's Vacuum in the Dark is an unforgettable, astonishing read, "by turns nutty and forlorn...Brash, deadpan, and achingly troubled" (O, The Oprah Magazine). Beagin is "a wonderfully funny writer who also happens to tackle serious subjects" (NPR).