Archives de catégorie : Fiction

THE SWEET CHEAT de Martha Grimes

The New York Times bestselling and award-winning author returns with a beguiling mystery starring the brilliant, idiosyncratic young sleuth Emma Graham as she attempts to solve a murder, free a wrongfully convicted man—and write her own novel along the way.

THE SWEET CHEAT
An Emma Graham Novel
by Martha Grimes
Atlantic Crime, December 2027

Photo credit: Urban Zintel

Twelve-year-old Emma Graham can’t seem to stay out of trouble in the small town of Spirit Lake. But how can she when her small town is besieged by murder, a disappearance, and savage attacks? But nothing will stop her from asking questions and relentlessly pursuing the truth—even if the sheriff is less than enthused.

When two men are accused of murder, Emma dives headfirst into the case, convinced there is a third suspect, a missing piece of the puzzle. Along the way, Emma begins writing her own mystery, inspired by the case and populated by the colorful cast of local waitresses, lawyers, drifters, and kooky customers she encounters during her investigation.

In this original and lively novel, Martha Grimes weaves a propulsive mystery against the backdrop of a vibrant town. Strikingly intuitive, quirky and always curious, Emma Graham is the perfect young sleuth who always sees the best in people—while still uncovering their secrets along the way.

Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, twenty-six of them featuring Richard Jury, and has sold more than 10 million copies in the US alone. The recipient of the 2012 Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, Grimes lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

THE BRIGHTNESS de Chad Harbach

At long last, the NYT bestselling author of The Art of Fielding returns with an immersive, generation-defining epic: Parties and weddings, messy hookups and marred friendships, art and love and grief—THE BRIGHTNESS follows the electric, chaotic, everything-can-happen lives of Pella Affenlight and her best friend, Irma, as they fumble their way into a larger world that won’t stop changing.

THE BRIGHTNESS
by Chad Harbach
Little, Brown, October 2026
(via The Gernert Company)

At 27, Pella’s life looks settled: she’s a recent college grad, engaged to Mike, her longtime boyfriend, and helping her friend Owen pull off his own destination wedding on Block Island. But over that wild wedding weekend, Pella’s past and present collide spectacularly, blowing up her plans and sending her spiraling toward an unplanned future in New York City. Meanwhile, back at Westish College, 21-year-old Irma’s involvement with a politically charged prank — one that has roiled both the campus and the world beyond— threatens to derail her brilliant future. As Irma and Pella cycle through possibilities and identities, both navigate the heights and depths of passion and ambition, and the incalculable wages of love and loss.

In stunning scenes and spectacular characters—each drawn with an almost superhuman vividness and humanity—Chad Harbach captures that specific, shimmering anxiety of your twenties when life still feels wide open, even as hard and irreversible choices start closing in. Energetic, funny, and deeply human, this much-anticipated follow-up to The Art of Fielding confirms Chad Harbach as one of the most accomplished and deep-seeing writers of our time.

It’s been fifteen years since The Art of Fielding published, but it continues to come up in conversation with many people referencing it as one of their favorite novels of all time. In The Brightness, Chad Harbach gives those who loved that book the opportunity to return to its indelible characters, but to see them in an entirely new light, while inviting a whole new generation of readers into his Westish world.

Chad Harbach is the author of the bestselling The Art of Fielding and a co-founder of n+1. He grew up in Wisconsin and attended Harvard and the University of Virginia. He lives in California.

BLACKTAIL de Scott Hawkins

A wolf sets out on an epic journey of revenge in this one-of-a-kind dark fantasy—the long-awaited second novel from the author of The Library at Mount Char, hailed as a « major talent » (The Wall Street Journal).

BLACKTAIL
by Scott Hawkins
Crown, September 2026

The wolf Blacktail is faithful to his Forest God, but in these times, faith is not enough. His world is besieged by men. Soon his territory will be overrun, and then there will be nowhere left to go. When his mate, a house dog, is killed, Blacktail rebels. He invades the house of her owners, seeking vengeance.

Blacktail’s fury catches the notice of an ancient and terrible feline witch, who makes an offer. What if Blacktail could end the human race responsible for the death of his family and for the destruction of the natural world, altogether? To do so, Blacktail must find and wake the Forest God. Only He might stand against the plague of men. Blacktail knows that his north woods are dwindling to nothing. He sees no other choice.

As Blacktail journeys farther from his wild home and deeper into the world of man, he encounters strangers—animal, mortal, and otherworldly—who, for their own reasons, want to help Blacktail rid the world of humans. Along the way, it becomes clear that he is more than just a wolf. The Forest God is sleeping, yes. But what will be the price of waking him?

Scott Hawkins is the author of The Library at Mount Char. He works as a Linux engineer focused on big data. He and his wife live in a woodsy area about an hour north of Atlanta. She keeps a nice garden. He’s in his tenth year of failing to remodel the basement. BLACKTAIL is his second novel.

DEAD BATTERIES de Kate Maupin

A single mom and her neurodivergent son battle for survival and stability in a post-apocalyptic world, one that is arguably no less harsh to them then the pre-pandemic one, in this gripping, one-of-a-kind debut.

DEAD BATTERIES
by Kate Maupin
Crown, October 2026

Ever since May’s husband decided parenthood wasn’t for him and left, it’s just been May and her autistic son with high support needs, Davis, against the world. A rather unwelcoming one that never had much patience or understanding.

Then 99.9% of the population was wiped out by a virus in just a few weeks, and that world ended. May has kept herself and Davis alive only through the self-imposed isolation she got so good at in the Before. They have their routines, their cozy nest in an abandoned library, and most importantly, the old battery-powered Game Boy that offers Davis familiarity and comfort in a world that’s difficult to understand.

One day May runs into a stranger while out scavenging for the precious batteries that keep Davis’s Game Boy alive. This stranger calls himself Bird, he has intel—and a proposition. Supposedly there’s an entire haven of survivors nearby. Bird wants in, and he needs May and Davis to play along as wife and child in order to guarantee himself a spot. Besides, wouldn’t May want to be part of a community again?

Not particularly—but the survivors have batteries. So she reluctantly agrees. And while May knows better than to trust the man who ripped her and Davis out of their routines, she can’t help but open up to him. But when Bird’s true motivations come to light, her old life collides with the new in terrifyingly dark ways, forcing May to question how far she would go to protect her son. How long can she and Davis last until the batteries run out?

Kate Maupin is an award-winning author, educator, foster child advocate, and reformed Super Mom. She is a genre-hopping writer with work originating in academic nonfiction, but excited to make her fiction debut. She is a national speaker on education and parenting topics, and is a retiree of the executive board of the Connecticut Association for the Gifted. Her work with populations of high needs children, as well as her own journey in special needs parenting, brought her to the realization that all parents can benefit from an antibody to “super parenting.” Kate currently lives in the wilds of Connecticut with her husband, two sons, and a truly outrageous number of pets.

MADDER LAKE de Katie Wu

Lush, thrilling, and inventive, MADDER LAKE is something utterly fresh in the romantasy space. It has the anonymous yearning of The Night Circus, the examination of the foreign student experience of Babel, and the use of magic to explore a sense of belonging and the definition of home of Starling House. But it also has a system in which magic and art are intricately intertwined, alongside a deep investigation of who gets access to that art and who serves as its gatekeepers.

MADDER LAKE
by Katie Wu
HarperVoyager, March 2027
(via Dystel Goderich & Bourret)

At Xenra, the world’s top magic painting university, blending art and the arcane is commonplace. But for Ayla, a homesick immigrant, commonplace isn’t good enough. Not if she wants to graduate with a lucrative patronage and afford treatment for her dying mother back home. When the school cancels her scholarship, she’ll do anything to stay at Xenra—including asking her privileged rival Constantine to team up for a painting competition that would guarantee her tuition.

Except there can only be one winner—she’ll have to beat him in the final round of the contest. Her only hope is a mysterious canvas she finds hidden in the school—a canvas that can turn anything painted on it into reality. With the power to change the art market (and perhaps the world), it’s the perfect way to stand out among her peers. But as Ayla investigates the canvas, she discovers that she’s not the only one working on it…

Constantine, desperate to rejoin his family after being disowned years ago, has found it too. They anonymously collaborate on it—and pass wordless confessions through its brushstrokes—all while butting heads on their joint project. As her mother’s condition worsens and Constantine’s powerful family threatens their shot at the competition, Ayla needs to solve the mysteries of the canvas and secure her win, once and for all. But unraveling century-old secrets risks the very fate of her people, so Ayla and Constantine must each decide if winning is truly worth selling out this magic—and each other.

Katie Wu is an author of swoony and strange books. Born stateside but raised in Shanghai, she then studied computer science and fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania, and is now based in NYC. You can find Katie Wu on TikTok/Instagram as @katiewuwrites. MADDER LAKE is her adult fantasy debut.