September eBook Deals: 12 Books to Keep Close This Fall

The beloved New York Times bestselling Dismas Hardy series returns with this “perfect piece of entertainment from a master storyteller” (Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author) about a relentlessly twisty murder mystery.

No one mourned when San Francisco DA Wes Farrell put Paul Riley in prison eleven years ago for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. And no one is particularly happy to see him again when he’s released after The Exoneration Initiative uncovered evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. In fact, Riley soon turns up murdered, surrounded by the loot from his latest scam. But if Riley was really innocent all along, who wanted him dead?

To the cops, it’s straightforward: the still-grieving father of Riley’s dead girlfriend killed the former prisoner. Farrell, now out of politics and practicing law with master attorney Dismas Hardy, agrees to represent the defendant, Doug Rush—and is left in the dust when Rush suddenly vanishes. At a loss, Farrell and Hardy ask PI Abe Glitsky to track down the potentially lethal defendant. The search takes Glitsky through an investigative hall of mirrors populated by wounded parents, crooked cops, cheating spouses, and single-minded vigilantes. As Glitsky embraces and then discards one enticing theory after another, the truth seems to recede ever farther. So far that he begins to question his own moral compass in this “superb thriller from a veteran crime writer” (Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author) that you’ll savor to the last word.

Sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson witnessed a shocking crime that challenged everything she knows about her adored mother. Now reunited on their mother’s ninetieth birthday, Laurel and her sisters search for clues to illuminate the truth about that long-ago day. It is a mesmerizing novel of family secrets, murder, and enduring love.

For fans of “Jane the Virgin”

With love triangles, crime lords, and baby mama drama, “Jane the Virgin” is a fount of jaw-dropping twists and turns—and Isabel Allende’s OF LOVE AND SHADOWS is the perfect companion read. Irene, a journalist, and her partner, Francisco, are an unshakeable team on the brink of uncovering an unspeakable crime—and they will risk everything for justice and, ultimately, embrace the passion that binds them.

Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time boasts a triple-play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and thereby save the lives of an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past; of a woman bent on fleeing the strictures of Victorian society; and of his very own wife, who may have become a pawn in a fourth-dimensional plot to murder the authors of Dracula, The Time Machine, and The War of the Worlds, in order to alter their identities and steal their fictional creations. But what happens if we change history? Mingling fictional characters with real ones, Félix J. Palma weaves a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting, a story full of love and adventure that also pays homage to the roots of science fiction while transporting its readers to a fascinating Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“[W]itty, original…a delight.” —Th​e New York Times

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, this international bestseller and “dazzlingly clever” (The Sunday Times, London) murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

A wholly modern and gripping take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.

In the Highlands of 1950s Scotland, a boy is found dead and two young girls have an unbelievably fanciful explanation for his disappearance. When the local newspaper staff set out to find the truth, the townspeople’s dark pasts threaten to prevent the crime from ever being solved.

“Gemini is an unforgettable novel—a morality tale, a mystery, and a love story that will leave readers breathless” (Maria Semple, New York Times bestselling author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette).

As should be the case with any memorable love story, the first time Raney Remington saw Bo she hated him.

When the skinny kid from the city first arrives in her Pacific Northwest hometown, Raney doesn’t quite know what to make of him. Yet her intense dislike of the know-it-all bookworm softens as Bo latches on to Raney, eager to learn about the Washington island he’s been sent for the summer.

Decades later Dr. Charlotte Reese finds herself fighting to keep an unconscious ICU patient stable while also unwrapping the mystery of the unconscious woman, the victim of a hit-and-run. Consumed by questions about the woman’s identity, Charlotte enlists Eric, her journalist boyfriend, to investigate. Their search for answers brings them to heartrending truths about Jane Doe―and themselves.

In beautiful interwoven storytelling, master of medical drama Carol Cassella presents two women—lifetimes apart—who face the inescapable forces shaping their lives. Filled with stunning medical detail and set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, Gemini is a vivid novel of moral complexity and emotional depth that “is just what the doctor ordered” (People).

***LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION***

“An extraordinary and dazzlingly original work from one of our most gifted and interesting writers” (Emily St. John Mandel, author of The Glass Hotel). The Need, which finds a mother of two young children grappling with the dualities of motherhood after confronting a masked intruder in her home, is “like nothing you’ve ever read before…in a good way” (People).

When Molly, home alone with her two young children, hears footsteps in the living room, she tries to convince herself it’s the sleep deprivation. She’s been hearing things these days. Startling at loud noises. Imagining the worst-case scenario. It’s what mothers do, she knows.

But then the footsteps come again, and she catches a glimpse of movement.

Suddenly Molly finds herself face-to-face with an intruder who knows far too much about her and her family. As she attempts to protect those she loves most, Molly must also acknowledge her own frailty. Molly slips down an existential rabbit hole where she must confront the dualities of motherhood: the ecstasy and the dread; the languor and the ferocity; the banality and the transcendence as the book hurtles toward a mind-bending conclusion.

In The Need, Helen Phillips has created a subversive, speculative thriller that comes to life through blazing, arresting prose and gorgeous, haunting imagery. “Brilliant” (Entertainment Weekly), “grotesque and lovely” (The New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice), and “wildly captivating” (O, The Oprah Magazine), The Need is a glorious celebration of the bizarre and beautiful nature of our everyday lives and “showcases an extraordinary writer at her electrifying best” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

In Depression-era Appalachia, a desperate sheriff’s widow takes on her late husband’s job and discovers that a prayer the devil answers comes at a terrible price.

The year is 1936 and society provides no safety net for newly widowed Ellie Robbins, a woman in a small mountain town who suddenly has to support her family on her own. She’s not trained to be a teacher or a nurse, the only respectable careers for a woman. So in order to care for her children, Ellie takes the only job available: that of her late husband, the sheriff.

Ellie has long proven that she can handle herself, and her role as sheriff is largely symbolic. Yet the wariness of her male subordinates and the townspeople is palpable. Soon, as dark secrets come to light, Ellie is forced to grapple with the tenuous ties she shares with a convicted killer and the small-town superstitions that have plagued her for years.

When a condemned killer is sentenced to death for his crime, her opportunity to do so presents itself in a way she never expected. There’s one task that only a sheriff can carry out: the execution of a convicted prisoner.

Atmospheric and suspenseful, Prayers the Devil Answers is rich with the same masterful attention to historical detail and captivating folklore that you cherished in McCrumb’s renowned Ballad novels. Her luscious writing brings her unforgettable characters to life with the “pure poetry” (The New York Times Book Review) that defines her astounding novels. Prayers the Devil Answers is a mesmerizing depiction of one woman’s tenacity and strength in even the most harrowing of circumstances.

“A twisty, fast-paced” (The Sunday Times, London) debut thriller, as electrifying as the #1 New York Times bestseller The Girl on the Train, about impending motherhood, unreliable friendship, and the high price of keeping secrets.

In this “gloriously tangled game of cat and mouse that kept the twists coming until the very last moment” (Ruth Ware, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class.

There, she meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be who doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood. Still, Helen is drawn to her. Maybe Rachel just needs a friend. And to be honest, Helen’s a bit lonely herself. At least Rachel is fun to be with. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences, and distracts her from her fears.

But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen’s not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.

From New York Times bestselling author John Dunning comes a riveting Cliff Janeway Bookman novel, combining captivating book lore with page-turning suspense.

Occasionally, Denver bookman Cliff Janeway has one of those perfect days—he sells a couple of good books and he buys something even better—perhaps a tough-to-find Steinbeck in mint condition. Even the jacket is fine.

Working from his store on seedy Colfax Avenue, Janeway doesn't have enough of those days, but he's not complaining. Things are looking up because of his new partner and friend, lawyer Erin d'Angelo.

So when Erin asks Janeway for a favor, it's hard to say no. She wants him to go over the mountain to the small town of Paradise where a former good friend, Laura Marshall, is in jail, accused of killing her husband.
What happened at the Marshalls' remote mountain home? Did Laura kill Bobby, or is she trying to protect her oldest son? And where were the three children when the shooting occurred? What did they see?

Rich with the intricacies of book collecting that only an expert like John Dunning can offer, The Sign of the Book is a beautifully crafted, enthralling novel of suspense from the consummate bookman himself.