The Authors

 

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John Lescroart is the author of twenty-nine novels (his thirtieth, The Missing Piece, will be published by Atria this November), nineteen of which have been New York Times Bestsellers.

Libraries Unlimited has named John among “The 100 Most Popular Thriller and Suspense Authors.” With sales of over twelve million copies, his books have been translated into twenty-two languages in more than seventy-five countries, and his short stories appear in many anthologies.

His short story “The Adventure of the Giant Rat of Sumatra” was selected for the 1998 edition of Houghton Mifflin’s The Best American Mystery Stories, edited by Sue Grafton.  Additionally, his short story “Dunkirk” appeared in the 2015 Anthony and Silver Falchion Award winning anthology, In the Company of Sherlock Holmes. Learn more at johnlescroart.com.

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Sarah Strohmeyer is a bestselling and award-winning novelist whose books include the upcoming thriller Do I Know You?, the wildly popular Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series (Penguin), The Cinderella Pact (which became the Lifetime Original Movie Lying to Be Perfect), along with many stand-alone novels for adults and young adults including Smart Girls Get What They Want and This Is My Brain on Boys (Blazer + Bray).

A former newspaper reporter, her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Boston Globe. She lives with her cat and husband in Middlesex, Vermont, where she is the elected Town Clerk. Adult children come and go. Learn more at sarahstrohmeyer.com.

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Authors’ Books

 

The Savage Kind by John Copenhaver

Philippa Watson, a good-natured yet troubled seventeen-year-old, has just moved to Washington, DC. She’s lonely until she meets Judy Peabody, a brilliant and tempestuous classmate. The girls become unlikely friends and fashion themselves as intellectuals, drawing the notice of Christine Martins, their dazzling English teacher, who enthralls them with her passion for literature and her love of noirish detective fiction.

When Philippa returns a novel Miss Martins has lent her, she interrupts a man grappling with her in the shadows. Frightened, Philippa flees, unsure who the man is or what she’s seen. Days later, her teacher returns to school altered: a dark shell of herself. On the heels of her teacher’s transformation, a classmate is found dead in the Anacostia River—murdered—the body stripped and defiled with a mysterious inscription.

As the girls follow the clues and wrestle with newfound feelings toward each other, they suspect that the killer is closer to their circle than they imagined—and that the greatest threat they face may not be lurking in the halls at school, or in the city streets, but creeping out from a murderous impulse of their own

Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.

Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.

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The Missing Piece (Dismas Hardy #19) by John Lescroart

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 would want 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 of the crime after another, the truth seems to recede ever farther. So far that he begins to question his own moral compass, allowing author John Lescroart to explore what The Washington Post calls “the genuine humanism that [is] central to his writing.”

Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.

Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.

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For The Best by Vanessa Lillie

When Jules Worthington-Smith’s wallet is found next to a dead man, she becomes the prime suspect in his murder. After struggling for years to build the perfect family and career, she’s dangerously close to losing everything.

Sure of her innocence, Jules is desperate to clear her name. But there’s one big problem: she was blackout drunk when the murder took place and can’t remember what happened.

Unsatisfied with the police’s handling of the case, Jules embarks on her own gin-fueled murder investigation. As she uncovers fresh clues, she starts a true-crime vlog that becomes a viral sensation, pushing her into the public eye. It’s not long before the ordeal forces Jules to confront her demons, including her turbulent childhood and excessive drinking.

The deeper Jules digs, the more dirt she uncovers about the murder and herself. Unexpected truths pile up until she’s buried so deep even finding the killer might not be enough to set her free.

Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.

Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.

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