New This Month

The most anticipated books for June 2021 mark the return of fan favourites including Elin Hilderbrand and Laura Lippman. So, if you’re looking for something new to read, checkout these June releases.

“Golden Girl” by Elin Hilderbrand

Release Date: June 1st, 2021

On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.

From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.

“Jackpot” by Stuart Woods

Release Date: June 1st, 2021

When Peter Barrington and Ben Bachetti come under threat while working at a film festival abroad, Teddy Fay is lured to the glittering city of Macau to resolve the problem. He’ll soon come to find that world of posh casinos, luxurious developments, and boundless wealth has a dark underbelly of crime and political intrigue . . . and that the biggest players behind the scenes may be far closer to home than anticipated. With international deals and private vendettas at stake, the villains behind the plot aren’t about to let Teddy stand in their way. What they don’t know is that this seemingly harmless film producer has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

“The Other Black Girl” Zakiya Dalila Harris

Release Date: June 1st, 2021

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.

Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.

It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.

A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.

“Our Woman in Moscow” by Beatriz Williams

Release Date: June 1st, 2021

In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets?

Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from the twin sister she hasn’t seen since their catastrophic parting in Rome in the summer of 1940, as war engulfed the continent and Iris fell desperately in love with an enigmatic United States Embassy official named Sasha Digby. Within days, Ruth is on her way to Moscow, posing as the wife of counterintelligence agent Sumner Fox in a precarious plot to extract the Digbys from behind the Iron Curtain.

But the complex truth behind Iris’s marriage defies Ruth’s understanding, and as the sisters race toward safety, a dogged Soviet KGB officer forces them to make a heartbreaking choice between two irreconcilable loyalties.

“Tom Clancy’s Target Acquired” by Don Bentley

Release Date: June 10th, 2021

Jack Ryan Jr would do anything for Ding Chavez. That’s why Jack is currently sitting in an open air market in Israel helping a CIA team with a simple job. The man running the mission, Peter Beltz, is an old friend from Ding’s army days. Ding hadn’t seen his friend since Peter’s transfer to the CIA eighteen months prior and intended to use the assignment to reconnect. Unfortunately, Ding had to cancel at the last minute and asked Jack to take his place. It’s a cushy assignment–an all expense paid trip to Israel in exchange for a couple hours of easy work, but Jack could use the downtime after his last operation.

Jack is here merely as an observer, but when he hastens to help a woman and her young son, he finds himself the target of trained killers. Alone and outgunned Jack will have to use all his skills to protect the life of the child.

“The Secret Keeper of Jaipur” by Alka Joshi

Release Date: June 22nd, 2021

In New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi’s intriguing new novel, henna artist Lakshmi arranges for her protégé, Malik, to intern at the Jaipur Palace in this tale rich in character, atmosphere, and lavish storytelling.

It’s the spring of 1969, and Lakshmi, now married to Dr. Jay Kumar, directs the Healing Garden in Shimla. Malik has finished his private school education. At twenty, he has just met a young woman named Nimmi when he leaves to apprentice at the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace. Their latest project: a state-of-the-art cinema.

Malik soon finds that not much has changed as he navigates the Pink City of his childhood. Power and money still move seamlessly among the wealthy class, and favors flow from Jaipur’s Royal Palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema’s balcony tragically collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. But Malik suspects something far darker and sets out to uncover the truth. As a former street child, he always knew to keep his own counsel; it’s a lesson that will serve him as he untangles a web of lies.

“Dream Girl” by Laura Lippman

Release Date: June 22nd, 2021

After being injured in a freak accident, novelist Gerry Andersen lies in a hospital bed in his glamorous but sterile apartment, isolated from the busy world he can see through his windows, utterly dependent on two women he barely knows: his young assistant and a night nurse whose competency he questions.

But Gerry is also beginning to question his own competency. As he moves in and out of dreamlike memories and seemingly random appearances of a persistent ex-girlfriend at his bedside, he fears he may be losing his grip on reality, much like his mother who recently passed away from dementia.

Most distressing, he believes he’s being plagued by strange telephone calls, in which a woman claiming to be the titular character of his hit novel Dream Girl swears she will be coming to see him soon. The character is completely fictitious, but no one has ever believed Gerry when he makes that claim. Is he the victim of a cruel prank—or is he actually losing his mind★ There is no record of the calls according to the log on his phone. Could there be someone he has wronged★ Is someone coming to do him harm as he lies helplessly in bed★ Then comes the morning he wakes up next to a dead body—and realizes his nightmare is just beginning.

Godzilla vs. Kong

Director: Adam Wingard
Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall
Summary: The epic next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse pits two of the greatest icons in motion picture history against one another – the fearsome Godzilla and the mighty Kong – with humanity caught in the balance.

Mortal Kombat

Director: Simon McQuoid
Stars: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson
Summary: MMA fighter Cole Young seeks out Earth’s greatest champions in order to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.

Nobody

Director: Ilya Naishuller
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen
Summary: A bystander who intervenes to help a woman being harassed by a group of men becomes the target of a vengeful drug lord.

The Unholy

Director: Evan Spiliotopoulos
Stars: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Cricket Brown, William Sadler
Summary: A hearing-impaired girl is visited by the Virgin Mary and can suddenly hear, speak, and heal the sick. As people flock to witness her miracles, terrifying events unfold. Are they the work of the Virgin Mary or something much more sinister?

Voyagers

Director: Neil Burger
Stars: Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp
Summary: A crew of astronauts on a multi-generational mission descend into paranoia and madness, not knowing what is real or not.

As we continue to bunker down, why not prepare your summer reading lists. This month’s releases include a couple of psychological suspense picks, historical and literary fiction, and an action packed thriller. So, check out these new releases hitting the book shelves in May.

“Local Woman Missing” by Mary Kubica

Release Date: May 4th, 2021

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find…

In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

“The Woman with the Blue Star” by Pam Jenoff

Release Date: May 4th, 2021

1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents amid the horrors of the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous sewers beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers. Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. Scorned by her friends and longing for her fiancé, who has gone off to war, Ella wanders Kraków restlessly. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding.

Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds. Inspired by harrowing true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an emotional testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive

“Sufferance” by Thomas King

Release Date: May 18th, 2021

Jeremiah Camp, a.k.a. the Forecaster, can look into the heart of humanity and see the patterns that create opportunities and profits for the rich and powerful. Problem is, Camp has looked one too many times, has seen what he hadn’t expected to see and has come away from the abyss with no hope for himself or for the future. So Jeremiah does what any intelligent, sensitive person would do. He runs away.

And then his past comes calling. Ash Locken, head of the Locken Group, the multinational consortium that Jeremiah has fled, arrives on his doorstep with a simple proposition. She wants our hero to formulate one more forecast, and she’s not about to take no for an answer. Before he left the Locken empire, Jeremiah had created a list of twelve names, every one a billionaire. The problem is, the people on the list are dying at an alarming and unnatural rate. And Ash Locken wants to know why. A sly and satirical look at the fractures in modern existence, Sufferance is a bold and provocative novel about the social and political consequences of the inequality created by privilege and power–and what we might do about it.

“Legacy” by Nora Roberts

Release Date: May 18th, 2021

Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her–before her mother, Lina, stepped in. Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend–and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s ten-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, following in Lina’s footsteps but intent on maintaining creative control. And she’s just as cool-headed and ambitious as her mother. They aren’t close, but they’re cordial–as long as neither crosses the other. But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian starts getting as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling.  They continue after she returns to Maryland and becomes reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins.

The Saboteurs by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul

Release Date: May 25th, 2021

Detective Isaac Bell’s investigation into an attempted assassination brings him to the construction site of the Panama Canal—and straight into a nest of vipers—in the latest adventure in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series from Clive Cussler.

Detective Isaac Bell’s wife has said that he is always in the wrong place at the right time. This is certainly the case when Bell thwarts the assassination of a U.S. Senator shortly after meeting the man. This heroic rescue is just the start of the mystery for Bell, who suspects that the would-be assassins have a much larger and more dangerous agenda—one involving the nearly-constructed Panama Canal. While the senator supports the building of the canal, there are many, including a local Panamanian insurgency known as the Red Vipers, who never want to see its completion.

With millions of dollars and the fates of two nations at stake, Bell heads to Panama to find answers. After a deadly bombing at the canal’s construction site, he is determined to stop the insurgents—or whoever is funding them—before they can attack again.

Boogie

Director: Eddie Huang
Stars: Taylor Takahashi, Pamelyn Chee, Jorge Lendeborg Jr.
Summary: Coming-of-age story of Alfred “Boogie” Chin, a basketball phenom living in Queens, New York, who dreams of one day playing in the NBA. While his parents pressure him to focus on earning a scholarship to an elite college, Boogie must find a way to navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation.

Chaos Walking 

Director: Doug Liman
Stars: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Demián Bichir
Summary: Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone.

Judas and the Black Messiah

Director: Shaka King
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Summary: Bill O’Neal infiltrates the Black Panther Party per FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Party Chairman Fred Hampton ascends, falling for a fellow revolutionary en route, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul.

Land

Director: Robin Wright
Stars: Robin Wright, Demián Bichir, Sarah Dawn Pledge
Summary: A bereaved woman seeks out a new life, off the grid in Wyoming.

The Little Things

Director: John Lee Hancock
Stars: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Summary: Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.

The Marksman

Director: Robert Lorenz
Stars: Katheryn Winnick, Liam Neeson, Teresa Ruiz
Summary: A rancher on the Arizona border becomes the unlikely defender of a young Mexican boy desperately fleeing the cartel assassins who’ve pursued him into the U.S.

Minari

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Stars: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan S. Kim
Summary: A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.

Nomadland 

Director: Chloé Zhao
Stars: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
Summary: After losing everything in the Great Recession, a woman embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.

Looking for something new to read, check out these popular titles coming out in April.

1. “Turn a Blind Eye” by Jeffrey Archer

Release Date: April 13th, 2021

Newly promoted to Detective Inspector, William Warwick is tasked with a dangerous new line of work, to go undercover and expose crime of another kind: corruption at the heart of the Metropolitan Police Force. Along with detectives Rebecca Pankhurst and Nicky Bailey, his team is focused on following Detective Jerry Summers, a young officer whose lifestyle exceeds his income. But the investigation risks being compromised when Nicky falls for Summers.

Meanwhile, notorious drug baron Ahmed Rashidi goes on trial, defended by Booth Watson QC, while William’s father Sir Julian and sister Grace lead the prosecution case. And William’s wife Beth, now a new mother to twins, makes a surprising new friend in Christina Faulkner–the ex-wife of William’s former rival, criminal financier Miles – who has not only turned over a new leaf, but also has a new-found source of income when Faulkner dies suddenly of a heart attack and she stands to be sole inheritor of his estate.

As the undercover officers start to draw the threads together, William realizes that the corruption may go deeper still, and more of his colleagues than he first thought might be willing to turn a blind eye.

2. “Ocean Prey” by John Sandford

Release Date: April 20th, 2021 

Fan-favorite heroes Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces on a deadly maritime case in the remarkable new novel from #1 New York Times-bestselling author John Sandford.
An off-duty Coast Guardsman is fishing with his family when he calls in some suspicious behavior from a nearby boat. It’s a snazzy craft, slick and outfitted with extra horsepower, and is zipping along until it slows to pick up a surfaced diver . . . a diver who was apparently alone, without his own boat, in the middle of the ocean. None of it makes sense unless there’s something hinky going on, and his hunch is proved right when all three Guardsmen who come out to investigate are shot and killed.

They’re federal officers killed on the job, which means the case is the FBI’s turf. When the FBI’s investigation stalls out, they call in Lucas Davenport. And when his case turns lethal, Davenport will need to bring in every asset he can claim, including a detective with a fundamentally criminal mind: Virgil Flowers.

3. “A Gambling Man” by David Baldacci

Release Date: April 20th, 2021

The 1950s are on the horizon, and Archer is in dire need of a fresh start after a nearly fatal detour in Poca City. So Archer hops on a bus and begins the long journey out west to California, where rumor has it there is money to be made if you’re hard-working, lucky, criminal—or all three. But when he arrives in Bay Town, California, Archer quickly discovers that the hordes of people who flocked there seeking fame and fortune landed in a false paradise that instead caters to their worst addictions and fears.

Archer’s first stop is a P.I. office where he is hoping to apprentice with a legendary private eye and former FBI agent named Willie Dash. He lands the job, and immediately finds himself in the thick of a potential scandal: a blackmail case involving a wealthy well-connected politician running for mayor that soon spins into something even more sinister. As bodies begin falling, Archer and Dash must infiltrate the world of brothels, gambling dens, drug operations, and long-hidden secrets, descending into the rotten bones of a corrupt town that is selling itself as the promised land—but might actually be the road to perdition, and Archer’s final resting place.

4. “Sooley” by John Grisham

Release Date: April 27th, 2021

In the summer of his seventeenth year, Sam­uel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basket­ball tournament. Samuel is an amazing athlete, with speed, quick­ness, and an astonishing vertical leap. The rest of his game, though, needs work, and the American coaches are less than impressed. During the tournament, Samuel receives dev­astating news from home: A civil war is raging across South Sudan, and rebel troops have ran­sacked his village. Partly out of sympathy, the coach of North Carolina Central offers him a scholar­ship. Samuel moves to Durham, enrolls in classes, joins the team, and prepares to sit out his freshman season.

But Samuel has something no other player has: a fierce determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America. He works tirelessly on his game, shooting baskets every morning at dawn by himself in the gym, and soon he’s dominating everyone in practice. With the Central team los­ing and suffering injury after injury, Sooley, as he is nicknamed, is called off the bench. And the legend begins. But how far can Sooley take his team? And will success allow him to save his family? Gripping and moving, Sooley showcases John Grisham’s unparalleled storytelling powers in a whole new light. This is Grisham at the top of his game.

5.”Finding Ashley” by Danielle Steel

Release Date: April 27th, 2021

Melissa Henderson is leading a quiet life. Once a bestselling author, she now pours all her energy into renovating a Victorian house nestled in the foothills of rural New England. Six years ago, she lost her young son to cancer, and her marriage dissolved. She stopped writing. It was only when she bought the old house that Melissa found a purpose, and came alive as she made it beautiful again. After a wildfire that threatens her home appears on the news, Melissa receives a call from her sister, Hattie. They were close once, but that was before Melissa withdrew from the world. Now Hattie, who became a nun at twenty-five, is determined to help Melissa turn a new page, even if it means reopening one of the most painful chapters of her life.

At sixteen, a pregnant Melissa was sent to a gloomy convent in Ireland to have— and give up—her baby, to spare the family shame. All these years later, Hattie feels compelled to embark on a journey that will change both their lives forever, and track down the child Melissa gave up. Finding Ashley is a masterpiece of contemporary drama and tells a gripping story of the strength of the human spirit to chase an impossible dream. It is the story of two strong, brave women turning wrenching loss into reconnection, and a family reunited after bringing dark secrets into the light.

Boss Level

Director: Joe Carnahan
Stars: Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts
Summary: A retired Special Forces officer is trapped in a never-ending time loop on the day of his death.

My Salinger Year

Director: Philippe Falardeau
Stars: Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth
Summary: A college grad takes a clerical job working for the literary agent of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.

Soul

Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton
Summary: After landing the gig of a lifetime, a New York jazz pianist suddenly finds himself trapped in a strange land between Earth and the afterlife.

Test Pattern

Director: Shatara Michelle Ford
Stars: Brittany S. Hall, Will Brill, Gail Bean
Summary: Test Pattern follows an interracial couple whose relationship is put to the test after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and her white boyfriend drives her from hospital to hospital in search of a rape kit.

Wonder Woman 1984

Director: Patty Jenkins
Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig
Summary: Diana must contend with a work colleague and businessman, whose desire for extreme wealth sends the world down a path of destruction, after an ancient artifact that grants wishes goes missing.

Fatale

Director: Deon Taylor
Stars: Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy, Mike Colter
Summary: After a one-night stand, a successful married man finds himself entangled in a cunning police detective’s latest investigation.

The Marksman

Director: Robert Lorenz
Stars: Katheryn Winnick, Liam Neeson, Teresa Ruiz
Summary: A rancher on the Arizona border becomes the unlikely defender of a young Mexican boy desperately fleeing the cartel assassins who’ve pursued him into the U.S.

Monster Hunter

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars:  Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman
Summary: When Lt. Artemis and her loyal soldiers are transported to a new world, they engage in a desperate battle for survival against enormous enemies with incredible powers. Feature film based on the video game by Capcom.

News of the World

Director: Paul Greengrass
Stars: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Tom Astor
Summary: A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl, taken by the Kiowa people years ago, to her aunt and uncle, against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home.

Promising Young Woman

Director: Emerald Fennell
Stars:  Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie
Summary: A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.

Spring is just around the corner and with it comes a slew of new books being published. Checkout these upcoming releases from some bestselling authors hitting the shelves soon.

1. “Dark Sky” by C.J. Box

Release Date: March 2nd, 2021

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett must accompany a Silicon Valley CEO on a hunting trip–but soon learns that he himself may be the hunted–in the thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box.

The governor of Wyoming gives Joe the thankless assignment of taking a tech baron on a hunting trip. Unbeknownst to them, as they trek further into the wilderness, a hunter is hot on their heels. Joe must rely on his wits and his knowledge of the outdoors to protect himself and his charge. Meanwhile, when Joe’s closest friend Nate Romanowski and his own daughter Sheridan learn of the threat to his life, they follow him into the woods to rescue him, and all three come together for one final showdown.

2. “Fast Ice” Clive Cussler

Release Date: March 9th, 2021

Kurt Austin races to Antarctica to stop a chilling plot that imperils the entire planet in the latest novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of Adventure.

After a former NUMA colleague disappears while researching the icebergs of Antarctica, Kurt Austin and his assistant Joe Zavala embark for the freezing edge of the world to investigate. Even as they confront perilous waters and frigid temperatures, they are also are up against a terrifying man-made weapon–a fast-growing ice that could usher in a new Ice Age.

Pitted against a determined madman and a monstrous storm, Kurt and the NUMA team must unravel a Nazi-era plot in order to save the globe from a freeze that would bury it once and for all.

3. “The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn

Release Date: March 9th, 2021

In 1940. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything, but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

In 1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter–the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger–and their true enemy–closer.

4. “Win” by Harlan Coben

Release Date: March 16th, 2021

Over twenty years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family’s estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors — and the items stolen from her family were never recovered.

Until now. On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead — not only on Patricia’s kidnapping, but also on another FBI cold case — with the suitcase and painting both pointing them toward one man.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III — or Win, as his few friends call him — doesn’t know how his suitcase and his family’s stolen painting ended up with a dead man. But his interest is piqued, especially when the FBI tells him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism — and that the conspirators may still be at large. The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades, but Win has three things the FBI doesn’t: a personal connection to the case; an ungodly fortune; and his own unique brand of justice.

5. “The Bounty” by Janet Evanovich

Release Date: March 23rd, 2021

Straight as an arrow special agent Kate O’Hare and international con man Nick Fox have brought down some of the biggest criminals out there. But now they face their most dangerous foe yet—a vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood. Directly descended from the Vatican Bank priests who served Hitler during World War II, the Brotherhood is on a frantic search for a lost train loaded with $30 billion in Nazi gold, untouched for over seventy-five years somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe.

Kate and Nick know that there is only one man who can find the fortune and bring down the Brotherhood—the same man who taught Nick everything he knows—his father, Quentin. As the stakes get higher, they must also rely on Kate’s own father, Jake, who shares his daughter’s grit and stubbornness. Too bad they can never agree on anything. From a remote monastery in the Swiss Alps to the lawless desert of the Western Sahara, Kate, Nick, and the two men who made them who they are today must crisscross the world in a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest foe in the biggest adventure of their lives.

New month, new books! Looking for some new reads to help keep off that winter chill, then check out these upcoming February releases.

“The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah

From the bestselling author of The Nightingale comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.

Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

“Faithless in Death” by J. D. Robb

The scene in the West Village studio appears to be classic crime-of-passion: two wineglasses by the bed, music playing, and a young sculptor named Ariel Byrd with the back of her head bashed in. But when Dallas tracks down the wealthy Upper East Side woman who called 911, the details don’t add up. Gwen Huffman is wealthy, elegant, comforted by her handsome fiancé as she sheds tears over the trauma of finding the body–but why did it take an hour to report it? And why is she lying about little things?

As Eve and her team look into Gwen, her past, and the people around her, they find that the lies are about more than murder. As with sculpture, they need to chip away at the layers of deception to find the shape within–and soon they’re getting the FBI involved in a case that involves a sinister, fanatical group and a stunning criminal conspiracy.

“Missing and Endangered” by J.A. Jance

When Jennifer Brady returns to Northern Arizona University for her sophomore year, she quickly becomes a big sister to her new roommate, Beth Rankin, a brilliant yet sheltered sixteen-year-old freshman. For a homeschooled Beth, college is her first taste of both freedom and unfettered access to the internet, and Jenny is concerned that she is too naive.

With Beth at war with her parents, Jenny asks to invite Beth home for Christmas, and Sheriff Joanna Brady says yes. After all, what could go wrong? Within hours, however, Joanna’s department is sucked into a complex officer-involved shooting that places two vulnerable young children in jeopardy. When Beth disappears while visiting over Christmas vacation, Joanna finds herself in a case fraught with landmines. With her own daughter’s well-being at stake, the seasoned sheriff knows there’s no room for the slightest mistake as hope ticks away for a fragile young girl who has gone missing and endangered.

“The Survivors” by Jane Harper

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away.

“A Stranger in Town” by Kelley Armstrong

Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.

When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, the sole survivor of a hostile attack, it’s all hands on deck. Even a member of the elusive Rockton council comes in to help. This council member also comes bearing news: Rockton is being shut down due to the hostile situation.

Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.

“Flowers of Darkness” by Tatiana de Rosnay

Author Clarissa Katsef is struggling to write her next book. She’s just snagged a brand new artist residency in an ultra-modern apartment, with a view of all of Paris, a dream for any novelist in search of tranquility. But since moving in, she has had the feeling of being watched. Is there reason to be paranoid? Or is her distraction and discomfort the result of her husband’s recent shocking betrayal? Or is that her beloved Paris lies altered outside her windows? A city that will never be quite the same, a city with a scar at its center?

Stuck inside, in the midst of a sweltering heat wave, Clarissa enlists her beloved granddaughter in her investigation of the mysterious, high tech building even as she finds herself drawn back into the orbit of her first husband who is still the one who knows her most intimately, who shares the past grief that she has never quite let go.

Staying true to her favorite themes–the imprint of the place, the weight of secrets–de Rosnay weaves an intrigue of thrilling suspense and emotional power.

Breach

Director: John Suits
Stars: Cody Kearsley, Bruce Willis, Rachel Nichols
Summary: On the cusp of fatherhood, a junior mechanic aboard an interstellar ark to New Earth must outwit a malevolent cosmic terror intent on using the spaceship as a weapon.

A Call to Spy

Director: Lydia Dean Pilcher
Stars: Sarah Megan Thomas, Stana Katic, Radhika Apte
Summary: In the beginning of WWII, with Britain becoming desperate, Churchill orders his new spy agency – SOE – to recruit and train women as spies.

Come Play

Director: Jacob Chase
Stars: Azhy Robertson, Gillian Jacobs, John Gallagher Jr.
Summary: A monster named Larry manifests itself through smart phones and mobile devices. Feature film version of the 2017 short film.

Freaky

Director: Christopher Landon
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Celeste O’Connor
Summary: After swapping bodies with a deranged serial killer, a young girl in high school discovers she has less than 24 hours before the change becomes permanent.

Let Him Go

Director: Thomas Bezucha
Stars: Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Kayli Carter
Summary: A retired sheriff and his wife, grieving over the death of their son, set out to find their only grandson.