From The Booking Desk:

Happy New Year! I trust that everyone had a wonderful holiday break. I have missed you all. We are about to head into a very inspiring book release cycle – so many great books coming this winter. First up, these new releases available TODAY. Fire up those gift cards and get to reading!

______________________________________________________________________

A. J. Finn – The Woman in the Window (William Morrow, Hardcover, $26.99, 01/02/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

This is probably the most hyped book of the season. While I do think too much hype can be a detriment to gaining a readership, this debut is a very strong psychological suspense novel that feels both vintage and contemporary simultaneously. Readers who dive it will not be disappointed.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-six languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.

It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . .

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

Twisty and powerful, ingenious and moving, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock.

______________________________________________________________________

Karen Ellis – A Map of the Dark (Mulholland, Hardcover, $26.00, 01/02/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

This novel is a promising start to a new series. Ellis digs deeper than most with this psychological tale and the rewards are vast. Elsa Myers manages to separate herself from a long line of female FBI agents and will hopefully be leading readers on complex journeys for a very long time to come.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

A race-against-time thriller for fans of Tana French and Megan Abbott: to save a missing girl, FBI Agent Elsa Myers may have to lose herself…

Even as her father lies dying in a hospital north of New York City, FBI Agent Elsa Myers can’t ignore a call for help. A teenage girl has disappeared from Forest Hills, Queens, and during the critical first hours of the case, a series of false leads obscures the fact that she did not go willingly.

With each passing hour, as the hunt for Ruby deepens into a search for a man who may have been killing for years, Elsa’s carefully compartmentalized world collapses around her. She finds missing people, but she knows too well how it feels to be lost. Everything she has buried–her fraught relationship with her sister and niece, her self-destructive past, her mother’s death–threatens to resurface, with devastating consequences.

Can our most painful childhood secrets be forgotten? Or will they always find their way back into our adult lives? These questions lie at the heart of A Map of the Dark, a riveting portrait of a woman haunted by her family legacy, and a race-against-time thriller.

______________________________________________________________________

Cathy Ace – The Case of the Unsuitable Suitor (Severn House, Hardcover, $28.99, 01/02/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

A visit with the woman of the WISE Enquiries Agency is always welcome. It sounds like this time out our favorite group of detectives is divided by location and the results are sure to be entertaining. Perfect for fans of traditional mysteries with a touch of both humor and heart.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

When the village’s prodigal son, Huw Hughes, returns and sets his cap at Annie Parker, village publican Tudor begs Annie’s colleagues at the WISE Enquiries Agency to unearth the truth behind Huw having been widowed three times.

With Christine enjoying a break at her family’s Irish estate – where she and the brooding Alexander face a surprisingly dangerous case of theft? Mavis and Carol have to work with dowager duchess Althea Twyst to ensure their unsuspecting friend Annie’s safety, and possibly the lives of more villagers.

______________________________________________________________________

James Lee Burke – Robicheaux (Simon & Schuster, Hardcover, $27.99, 01/02/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

I didn’t get my hands on an advanced copy of the new James Lee Burke, but I feel confident in recommending it anyway. Has this legend ever let us down? I have to admit that I am a bit nervous that the title seems a bit definitive when it comes to one of our favorite crime fiction characters. But I will trust Mr. Burke to lead me on a exploration of the human condition regardless. I just hope that I don’t need tissues by the end.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

James Lee Burke’s most beloved character, Dave Robicheaux, returns in this gritty, atmospheric mystery set in the towns and backwoods of Louisiana.

DAVE ROBICHEAUX IS A HAUNTED MAN.

Between his recurrent nightmares about Vietnam, his battle with alcoholism, and the sudden loss of his beloved wife, Molly, his thoughts drift from one irreconcilable memory to the next. Images of ghosts at Spanish Lake live on the edge of his vision.

During a murder investigation, Dave Robicheaux discovers he may have committed the homicide he’s investigating, one which involved the death of the man who took the life of Dave’s beloved wife. As he works to clear his name and make sense of the murder, Robicheaux encounters a cast of characters and a resurgence of dark social forces that threaten to destroy all of those whom he loves. What emerges is not only a propulsive and thrilling novel, but a harrowing study of America: this nation’s abiding conflict between a sense of past grandeur and a legacy of shame, its easy seduction by demagogues and wealth, and its predilection for violence and revenge. James Lee Burke has returned with one of America’s favorite characters, in his most searing, most prescient novel to date.