The Last Alibi

David Ellis

Putnam

James Drinker is a bit of an oddball. A funny-looking, geeky loner, he walks into Jason Kolarich's office one day with a preemptive concern: two women have recently been murdered, seemingly by the same killer, and Drinker thinks he will be the police's main suspect. One woman was his ex-girlfriend, he says, and the other was a friend. He's the only link between the victims and he has no alibi for the night of either murder-surely the police will realize it soon. Believing he's the target of a frame-up, Drinker hires Kolarich for his defense. Something about James Drinker seems off from the start, but Kolarich doesn't give it too much thought. Until another murder occurs. And then another. And as he begins to probe his client's life and story more closely, it quickly becomes clear that nothing about James Drinker is what it seems and that the target of the frame-up isn't Drinker, but Kolarich. Unable to stop a serial killer-and prove his own innocence-without breaking his sworn attorney-client privilege, Jason Kolarich must hunt for the truth about James Drinker, the series of brutal murders, and why he's been set up to take the fall. The answers will be beyond anything he could have imagined.

The Husband's Secret

Liane Moriarty

Amy Einhorn Books

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret-something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all-she's an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia-or each other-but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's secret.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

Emily Croy Barker

Pamela Dorman Books

Nora Fischer's dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman. During a miserable weekend at a friend's wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she's transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning beauty. Before long, she has a set of glamorous new friends and her romance with gorgeous, masterful Raclin is heating up. It's almost too good to be true. Then the elegant veneer shatters. Nora's new fantasy world turns darker, a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. Making it here will take skills Nora never learned in graduate school. Her only real ally-and a reluctant one at that-is the magician Aruendiel, a grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past. And it will take her becoming Aruendiel's student-and learning magic herself-to survive. When a passage home finally opens, Nora must weigh her "real life" against the dangerous power of love and magic.

Death Angel

Linda Fairstein

Dutton

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Central Park, the clock begins ticking for Assistant DA Alex Cooper and Detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace to find the killer who has breached this haven in the middle of New York City. Is the body found in the lake, under the unseeing gaze of the Bethesda angel, the first victim of a deranged psychopath, or is the case connected to other missing girls and women in years past whose remains have never been found? Just as the trio gets their first lead, the investigation is almost derailed when Mike and Alex become embroiled in a scandal. As Alex attempts to fight the accusations leveled against her and Mike, she follows clues that range from the park's most buried - literally - secrets all the way to the majestic Dakota, which has experienced its own share of tragedies. When another young woman is attacked in the park, a new question arises: is this enormous urban park a sanctuary-as it seems to the thousands of New Yorkers and tourists who fill it every day-or is it a hunting ground for a killer with a twisted mind?

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese

Michael Paterniti

Dial Press

In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as "the telling room." Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets-usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. An unusual piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio's cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Eating it, some claimed, conjured long-lost memories. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. By the time the two men exited the telling room that evening, Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled in village life, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this cheese and explore the fairy tale-like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta. What Paterniti ultimately discovers there in the highlands of Castile is nothing like the idyllic slow-food fable he first imagined. Instead, he's sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot. As the village begins to spill its long-held secrets, Paterniti finds himself implicated in the very story he is writing.

The Catch: Sea-to-Table Recipes, Stories & Secrets

Ben Sargent, Peter Kaminsky

Clarkson Potter

Ben Sargent shares his love of the open waters with adventure stories and simple seafood recipes that will entice you with their fresh flavors. An avid fisherman, home cook, and veteran surfer, Ben has been mesmerized by fishing since childhood. He catches almost everything he eats, but even if you don't, The Catch is the perfect book for cooking simple, delicious fish and shellfish. These 100 recipes will teach you how to stuff, grill, sauté, fry, roast, smoke, bake, and fillet to perfection, from classic preparations for salmon, shrimp, and clams to chowders using snakehead and blackfish. Showcasing Ben's signature lobster rolls (for which people journey many oceans), The Catch also features recipes such as Catfish Sandwich with Dill Rémoulade & Sliced Jalapeños (a recipe Ben made from his first catch); Mahi Ceviche with Grapefruit, Toasted Coconut & Roasted Peanuts (inspired by the flavors of Central America); Striped Bass Chowder with Broccoli Rabe Pesto (which makes enough to share with friends); Oyster Pan Roast with Garlic Butter Toasts (the perfect dish for two); and Flounder in Grape Leaves (grilled whole over an open fire). With stunning photos from the bountiful waters of Brooklyn to the Caribbean coast, The Catch is Ben's take on sustainable seafood and will become your go-to resource when you want to savor fish and seafood in your home kitchen.

I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs

Francesco Marciuliano

Chronicle Books

A New York Times bestseller? Oh, you know the dogs weren't going to let the cats get away with that! This canine companion to I Could Pee on This, the beloved volume of poems by cats, I Could Chew on This will have dog lovers laughing out loud. Doggie laureates not only chew on quite a lot of things, they also reveal their creativity, their hidden motives, and their eternal (and sometimes misguided) effervescence through such musings as "I Dropped a Ball," "I Lose My Mind When You Leave the House," and "Can You Smell That?" Accompanied throughout by portraits of the canine poets in all their magnificence, I Could Chew on This is a work of unbridled enthusiasm, insatiable appetite, and, yes, creative genius.