Arriving next week are new titles by several favorite mystery authors, led by Louise Penny, whose previous Inspector Gamache title, The Beautiful Mystery, hit new highs for her on best seller lists, debuting at #2 on the NYT  list. The new novel, How the Light Gets In receives 4 of 4 stars in the new issue of People, saying. “Penny delivers a masterful, nuanced suspense novel in which tone and setting are just as riveting as the murder’s who and why.” It is featured on the inaugural LibraryReads list. Also arriving are new titles by Diane Mott Davidson, Kathy Reichs, and the mother/son writing team of Charles Todd.

Below are several titles to keep your eye on; all the titles highlighted here and more coming next week are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet, with ordering information and alternate formats, New Title Radar, Week of 8/26/13.

Watch List

The Returned, Jason Mott, (Harlequin/MIRA; Brilliance; Thorndike)

Book trailers are so yesterday. This debut has one, but it also arrives with a trailer for an ABC series based on it. Inexplicably renamed Resurrection, it begins in March.

This debut engendered  big buzz at BEA this year and was a favorite among librarians on the Shout ‘n’ Share panel. It’s on the inaugural LibraryReads list, with this compelling annotation:

Around the world, people are coming back from the dead and trying to reunite with their loved ones. In a tiny Southern town, Harold and Lucille Hargrave are astonished to have their son Jacob come back to them fifty years after he died. A global government agency at first works to reunite “The Returned” with their families, then later confines them as more and more people come back from the dead. A beautifully written exploration of love and family, community and responsibility, and a perfect book group selection. – Vicki Nesting, St. Charles Parish Library, Destrehan, LA

It’s received 4 starred reviews from the pre-pub sources and Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+.

ABC series trailer:

The Affairs of Others, Amy Grace Loyd, (Picador)

This debut gets an A- from Entertainment Weekly, which calls it mesmerizing. It is also an IndieNext pick for September;

“With elements of both Alfred Hitchcock and Ian McEwan, this gorgeously written novel seduces the reader into a fascinating world with its own vortex. Celia, the young widow who keeps careful tabs on her Brooklyn apartment building, is drawn deeply into her tenants’ lives after the sensuous Hope takes a sublet. Peopled with intriguing characters — the elderly ferry boat captain who doesn’t mind climbing four flights to his room with a water view, the disappearing cleaning woman — and infused with the sights and sounds of the perpetually mysterious New York City, this book unfolds with stunning momentum and reverberates long after the reader has turned the final page.” —Jaime Clarke, Newtonville Books, Newton Centre, MA

Early Decision, Lacy Crawford, (HarperCollins/Morrow)

Entertainment Weekly gives this a B+, but it may rate an A+ among certain audiences, based on the following; “Overbearing moms and dads scheming to secure their kid a place at Harvard will find this novel more helpful than any nonfiction book on the market. But everyone else can enjoy Early Decision for what it is: a sweetly sharp modern-day comedy of manners about the brutally competitive college-admissions ordeal.”

Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, Sarah Weinman, (Penguin Books)

As the NYT noted last week, “readers looking for ‘the next Gillian Flynn’ would be smart to consider her predecessors,“ featured in this anthology by the most insightful writer on mysteries today, Sarah Weinmen. The intro alone should be required reading for all reader’s advisors (and Penguin is offering a chance to win a copy).

Nonfiction

War Dogs, Rebecca Frankel, (S&S/Atria)

Rebecca Frankel is the “Chief Canine Correspondent” for “Best Defense,” on Foreign Policy‘s web site. Her column, “War Dog of the Week” gets millions of hits (unsurprisingly, it’s the most popular section of Foreign Policy‘s site). Other books on dogs at war, such as Maria Goodavage’s Soldier Dogs (Penguin/Dutton; 2012) and Trident K9 Warriors (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; April, 2013) have hit best seller lists. You don’t need to know all that to bet this will be popular; just look at that cover.

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