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The Monster of Florence: A True Story, by Douglas Preston, with Mario Spezi [$25.95 hardcover – signed copies available] – In the tradition of John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, Douglas Preston weaves a captivating account of crime and punishment in the lush hills of Florence, Italy. Douglas Preston fulfilled a lifelong dream when he moved with his family to a villa in Florence. Upon meeting celebrated journalist Mario Spezi, Preston was stunned to learn that the olive grove next to his home had been the scene of a horrific double murder committed by one of the most infamous figures in Italian history. A serial killer who ritually murdered fourteen young lovers, he has never been caught. He is known as the Monster of Florence. Fascinated by the tale, Preston began to work with Spezi on the case. Here is the true story of their search to uncover and confront the man they believe is the Monster. In an ironic twist of fate that echoes the dark traditions of the city’s bloody history, Preston and Spezi themselves became targets of a bizarre police investigation. With the gripping suspense of Preston’s bestselling novels, THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE tells a remarkable and harrowing chronicle of murder, mutilation, suicide, and vengeance—with Preston and Spezi caught in the middle. Mario Spezi, a highly decorated journalist, has covered many of the most important criminal cases in Italy, including those involving terrorism and the Mafia, and has been investigating the Monster of Florence case since its beginning. He has also published both fiction and nonfiction books in Italy and several other countries. From page 207: We asked Natalino Mele what he remembered of the night of August 21, 1968, when his mother was murdered. The question set him off. “I was six years old!” he cried. He had been so terrified he couldn’t speak at all, until his carabinieri interrogators threatened to take him back to his dead mother. As Natalino spoke of the merciless questioning, his voice filled with anguish. “I told them I couldn’t remember anything. Anything. Except one thing. There is one thing I remembered!” He paused, drawing in breath. “I opened my eyes in that car and I saw, in front of me, my mamma—dead. That’s the only thing I remember of that night. And,” he said, his voice breaking, “that’s the only memory I have of her now.”

On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan [$13.95 paper] – Ian McEwan’s bestselling new novel follows a young newlywed couple as they attempt to understand each other and the nature of their fragile marriage. He creates a story of lives transformed . . . by a gesture not made, or a single word spoken.

Concise Chinese – English Dictionary for Lovers, by Xiaolu Gao [ $13.95 paperback] – Language and love collide in this inventive novel about a young Chinese woman’s journey to the West and her attempts to understand the language-and the man-she adores.

Church of the Dog, by Kaya McLaren [$13.00 paperback] – Deep in Oregon farm country, Edith and Earl McRae are looking down the barrel of their fiftieth anniversary with none of the joy such a milestone should hold. Instead, they are stuck in a past that holds them to heartbreak and tragedy. Enter the mysterious and ever-so-slightly magical Mara O’Shaunessy who appears on their ranch with the power to mend long broken fences and show them how to recognize the enchantment of their everyday lives.

Here If You Need Me, by Kate Braestrup [$13.99 paperback] – Ten years ago, Kate Braestrup and her husband Drew were enjoying the life they shared together. They had four young children, and Drew, a Maine state trooper, would soon begin training to become a minister as well. Then early one morning Drew left for work and everything changed. On the very roads that he protected every day, an oncoming driver lost control, and Kate lost her husband. Stunned and grieving, Kate decided to continue her husband's dream and became a minister herself. And in that capacity she found a most unusual mission: serving as the minister on search and rescue missions in the Maine woods, giving comfort to people whose loved ones are missing, and to the wardens who sometimes have to deal with awful outcomes. Whether she is with the parents of a 6-year-old girl who had wandered into the woods, with wardens as they search for a snowmobile rider trapped under the ice, or assisting a man whose sister left an infant seat and a suicide note in her car by the side of the road, Braestrup provides solace, understanding, and spiritual guidance when it's needed most. HERE IF YOU NEED ME is the story of Kate Braestrup's remarkable journey from grief to faith to happiness. It is dramatic, funny, deeply moving, and simply unforgettable, an uplifting account about finding God through helping others, and the tale of the small miracles that occur every day when life and love are restored.

Off Season, by Anne Rivers Siddons [$24.99 hardcover - She will be here in August to sign books.] – For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly – happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does . . . in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past – to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety – to try to figure out her future. It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

Away, by Amy Bloom [$14.00 paperback] – Panoramic in scope, Away is the epic and intimate story of young Lillian Leyb, a dangerous innocent, an accidental heroine. When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower East Side, to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up to Alaska, along the fabled Telegraph Trail toward Siberia. All of the qualities readers love in Amy Bloom’s work – her humor and wit, her elegant and irreverent language, her unflinching understanding of passion and the human heart – come together in the embrace of this brilliant novel, which is at once heartbreaking, romantic, and completely unforgettable.

Fearless Fourteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel, by Janet Evanovich [$27.95 hardcover] – The number one blockbuster bestselling phenomenon continues in the fourteenth Stephanie Plum adventure. New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum finds herself saddled with the teenage son of Loretta Rizzi, her latest skip, at the start of one of the less cohesive entries in Evanovich's bestselling series (Lean Mean Thirteen, etc.). When Mario "Zook" Rizzi and his obsession with the online role-playing game "Minionfire" become too much for Stephanie to handle, the pair camp out at Trenton cop Joe Morelli's house. Stephanie also takes a job with the mysterious Ranger, helping him "babysit" Brenda, a fading music star in town for a concert. After Loretta is kidnapped, Stephanie and Morelli discover that to ensure Loretta's safety, they'll have to find the $9 million that disappeared after a bank robbery committed by Loretta's recently paroled brother, Dom. Freefornothing Donald Kroodsma. A mild-mannered stalker and the upcoming nuptials of Stephanie's colleague Lula to Ranger's right-hand man, Tank, add to the crazy fun. Despite a number of unresolved subplots, this Plum adventure won't disappoint those looking for the perfect summer beach read.

New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer [$10.99 Now in paperback] – For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning . . . Legions of readers entranced by the New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

The Spies of Warsaw, by Alan Furst [$25.00 hardcover] – Furst’s stunning action-packed new thriller combines espionage with deadly romance, all happening during the rearing threat of Hitler’s gathering war against Europe. Autumn 1937: War is coming to Europe. French and German intelligence operatives are locked in a life-and-death struggle on the espionage battlefield. At the French embassy, the new military attaché, Colonel Jean-François Mercier, a decorated hero of the 1914 war, is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal, and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. At the same time, the handsome aristocrat finds himself in a passionate love affair with a Parisian woman of Polish heritage, a lawyer for the League of Nations. Colonel Mercier must work in the shadows, amid an extraordinary cast of venal and dangerous characters - Colonel Anton Vyborg of Polish military intelligence; the mysterious and sophisticated Dr. Lapp, senior German Abwehr officer in Warsaw; Malka and Viktor Rozen, at work for the Russian secret service; and Mercier's brutal and vindictive opponent, Major August Voss of SS counterintelligence. And there are many more, some known to Mercier as spies, some never to be revealed. The Spies of Warsaw is Furst's finest novel to date -- exciting, atmospheric, erotic, and impossible to put down.

I Shall Not Want, by Julia Spencer-Fleming [$24.95 hardcover] – Millers Kill reaches the boiling point in this white-hot novel of love and suspense. People die. Marriages fail. In the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill, New York, however, life doesn't stop for heartbreak. A brand-new officer in the police department, a breaking-and-entering, and trouble within his own family keep Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne busy enough to ignore the pain of losing his wife - and the woman he loves.
At St. Alban's Episcopal Church, the Reverend Clare Fergusson is trying to keep her vestry, her bishop, and her National Guard superiors happy - all the while denying her own wounded soul.
When a Mexican farmhand stumbles over a Latino man killed with a single shot to the back of his head, Clare is sucked into the investigation through her involvement in the migrant community. The discovery of two more bodies executed in the same way ignites fears that a serial killer is loose in the close-knit community. While the sorrowful spring turns into a scorching summer, Russ is plagued by media hysteria, conflict within his department, and a series of baffling assaults. As the violence strikes closer and closer to home, an untried officer is tested, a wary migrant worker is tempted, and two would-be lovers who thought they had lost everything must find a way to trust each other again - before it becomes forever, fatally, too late. Julia Spencer-Fleming shows you can escape danger - but not desire -in her most suspenseful, passionate novel yet.

When You are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris [$25.95 hardcover] – Once again, David Sedaris brings together a collection of essays so uproariously funny and profoundly moving that his legions of fans will fall for him once more. He tests the limits of love when Hugh lances a boil from his backside, and pushes the boundaries of laziness when, finding the water shut off in his house in Normandy, he looks to the water in a vase of fresh cut flowers to fill the coffee machine. From armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds to the awkwardness of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a sleeping fellow passenger on a plane, David Sedaris uses life's most bizarre moments to reach new heights in understanding love and fear, family and strangers. Culminating in a brilliantly funny account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection will be avidly anticipated.

Plague Ship: A Novel of the Oregon Files, by Clive Cussler with Jack DuBrul [$26.95 hardcover] – For four novels, Clive Cussler has charted the exploits of the Oregon, a covert ship completely dilapidated on the outside but, on the inside, packed with sophisticated weaponry and intelligence-gathering equipment. Captained by the rakish, one-legged Juan Cabrillo and manned by a crew of former military and spy personnel, it is a private enterprise, available for any government agency that can afford it— and now Cussler sends the Oregon on its most extraordinary mission yet. The crew has just completed a top secret mission against Iran in the Persian Gulf, when they come across a cruise ship adrift in the sea. Hundreds of bodies litter its deck, and as Cabrillo tries to determine what happened, explosions rack the length of the ship. Barely able to escape with his own life and that of the liner's sole survivor, Cabrillo finds himself plunged into a mystery as intricate—and as perilous—as any he has ever known, and pitted against a cult with monstrously lethal plans for the human race . . . plans he may already be too late to stop. Plague Ship is a high-stakes, high-seas journey that proves once again that Cussler is just about the best storyteller in the business.

The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the NFL, by Mark Bowden [$23.00 hardcover] – The remarkable story of the 1958 NFL Championship game considered by many to be the greatest football game ever played, from the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down. On December 28, 1958, the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts met under the lights of Yankee Stadium for that season's NFL championship game. Football, growing in popularity amidst America's post-war economic boom, was still greatly overshadowed by the country's favored pastime, baseball, but the 1958 championship proved to be the turning point for pro football. In The Best Game Ever, Mark Bowden delivers a brilliant narrative on the 1958 NFL Championship game, the story behind the key players in that game, and the effect the contest had on the modern game of football and today’s NFL. The championship, played on a freezing Sunday evening in front of 64,000 fans and millions of television viewers around the country, would go down as the greatest in football’s history. On the field and roaming the sidelines were 17 future Hall of Famers, including Colts stars Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Gino Marchetti and Giants greats Frank Gifford, Sam Huff and assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. An estimated 45 million viewers—at that time the largest crowd to have ever watched a football game—tuned in to see what would become the first sudden death contest in NFL history. It was a battle of the league’s best offense—the Colts—versus its best defense—the Giants. And it was a contest between the blue-collar Baltimore team, many of whom worked off-season jobs selling liquor or insurance or taking shifts at Bethlehem Steel, versus the glamour boys of the Giants squad who often appeared in magazine ads and TV commercials and were seen around town at trendy spots like Toots Shoors mingling with the likes of politicians, Broadway stars, even Ernest Hemingway on occasion. The Best Game Ever is a brilliant portrait of how a single game changed the history of American sport. Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the championship, it is destined to be a sports classic.