Roseborn, N. Y.,
and shoots her
with a BB gun
49 times,
including
through the eye.
Patrick “Patch”
McConnell, a
friend of
Matthew’s, is
walking nearby
and hears the
shots. When Patch arrives at the scene, he
at first thinks Hannah is dead, but she sur-
vives her injuries. Flash forward to 2008,
when all three are living in New York City.
Hannah, now a crime reporter, is married
to Patch, who puts all his energies into his
food blog and fantasizing about getting
even with the boss who recently laid him
off. A chance meeting with Matthew
brings to the surface the anger and violence
each has repressed. The reader’s sympathies
shift as each character brings a different
perspective to the events that shaped them.
Unexpected twists keep the tension high.
Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel & Goderich
Literary Management. (Jan.)
Dark in Death
J.D. Robb. St. Martin’s, $27.99 (384p)
ISBN 978-1-250-16153-6
At the start of bestseller Robb’s enjoy-
able 46th novel set in a near-future New
York City (after 2016’s Secrets in Death),
someone plunges an ice pick into the neck
of Chanel Rylan while the 32-year-old
aspiring Broadway actress is watching
the shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho in
a Times Square movie theater. Lt. Eve
Dallas arrives at the scene to find that no
one witnessed the fatal stabbing. Later,
novelist Blaine DeLano shows up at the
police station where Eve and her team are
gathered to report that Chanel’s death is
the second that appears to copy a murder
from one of her bestselling books. Following
meager forensic clues, Eve tries to identify
and warn potential new victims and stop
designed to keep time until the year
9999. Nivi’s son suffers from a mysterious
illness, and her lover Theo, an astrophysicist, travels the globe to observe the universe from different vantage points. As
she walks the streets of Paris, Nivi often
conjures an imagined Passemant while
she meditates on the nature and passage
of time. Though the plot eventually
expands to include a mystery surrounding
Theo’s ancestry, the suspicious death of
one of Nivi’s coworkers, and the theft of
Passemant’s clock from its home in
Versailles, Nivi’s philosophical ruminations on the nature of time, space, and the
conditions of human life reject a strictly
linear reading of events, forcing the reader
to wonder what exactly is happening, and
when. Mortimer’s translation captures
Kriteva’s sinuous representation of Nivi’s
imagination. (Dec.)
Jane the Quene
Janet Wertman. Janet Wertman, $11.57 trade
paper (280p) ISBN 978-0-9971338-1-3
Wertman portrays her discreet and
plain Jane Seymour as a religious and
political focal point in this delicate historical novel with romance elements, the
first volume of the Seymour Saga, set in
the volatile court of Henry VIII. In 1535,
King Henry is traveling through England
to meet his people. Queen Anne Boleyn
has not given him the son he desperately
needs, only the daughter Elizabeth, and
King Henry is searching for a new wife.
Unmarried Jane, a maid to the fiery queen,
is 27 and on the verge of spinsterhood; her
domineering brother Edward has been
unable to arrange a suitable marriage for
her. During the king’s procession through
England, he stops to visit Jane’s ancestral
home, Wolf Hall, where she has made all
the arrangements for his visit. They share
a tender moment that leads to a romantic
spark. Pious Jane knows the fatal conse-
quences to Anne, yet she loves Henry and
wants to be queen. Wertman describes the
pageantry, gowns, and architecture of pre-
Elizabethan England; presents an ample
cast of nobles and ladies-in-waiting; and
exposes the tense religious turmoil and
malicious political machinations of the
Tudor court, led by dastardly Thomas
Cromwell. This enticing, historically
accurate story lends immediacy to the
events. (BookLife)
Mystery/Thriller
The Policeman’s Daughter
Trudy Nan Boyce. Putnam, $27 (352p)
ISBN 978-0-399-16728-7
Boyce’s captivating third novel featuring Atlanta PD officer Sarah “Salt” Alt
(after 2017’s Old Bones) is a prequel about
how Salt became a detective that introduces a cast of multidimensional characters that bring the gritty neighborhood
to life. Salt, still a beat cop, is working
one of the toughest beats in the city, an
area called the Homes. During a routine
traffic stop, she is shot in the head, giving
her prolonged eyesight problems. She
starts to see double and even has what
appear to be visions, but she hides the
injury to avoid being taken off the street.
When Shannell, a crack addict and sex
worker Salt knows, is murdered, Salt
can’t let the investigation rest, even
though she’s not a detective and the case
has immediately gone cold. Salt chases
leads that result in conflict between her
and the local gang. This taut, authentic
depiction of life as a female beat cop will
resonate with crime fiction fans. Agent:
Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates. (Feb.)
★ Grist Mill Road
Christopher J. Yates. Picador, $26 (352p)
ISBN 978-1-250-15028-8
Yates follows his well-received debut,
Black Chalk, with an edgy, intelligent
thriller that explores the aftermath of a
senseless crime. In 1982, 13-year-old
Matthew Weaver ties Hannah Jensen,
who’s also 13, to a tree in the woods outside
Danny Adams
Paul Goat Allen
Chris Barsanti
Vicki Borah Bloom
Monique Bos
Charlene Brusso
Henry Carrigan
Donis Casey
Erin Cass
Kristin Centorcelli
Oline H. Cogdill
Lynda Brill Comerford
Jessica Daitch
Kate Dunn
Stefan Dziemianowicz
Jordan Foster
Suzanne Fox
Elizabeth Foxwell
Shaenon Garrity
Lila Garrott
Krystyna Poray Goddu
Laurie Gold
Bob Hahn
Katrina Niidas Holm
Karama Horne
Mary M. Jones
Karin L. Kross
Pam Lambert
Anaea Lay
Adam Lipkin
Victoria McManus
Sheri Melnick
Libby Morse
Julie Naughton
Erica Ruth Neubauer
Dai Newman
Eric Norton
Dionne Obeso
Nora Ostrofe
Joy Parks
Mary Pender-Coplan
Leonard Picker
Gwyn Plummer
Quandra Prettyman
Kristoff Ramsamujh
Fahmida Y. Rashid
Eugene Reynolds
Sam Riedel
Antonia Saxon
Kathy Weeks
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