5 Hot New Reads for August

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From the turbulent Tudor court to modern, twisty psychological thrillers, here are five must-reads for this month.

 

THREE SISTERS, THREE QUEENS (Touchstone) by Philippa Gregory

It’s a sibling rivalry of royal proportions. In her latest book in the epic Tudor Court series, the queen of historical fiction sets her sights on Henry VIII’s sisters, Margaret and Mary, and their sister-in-law, Katherine of Aragon, as the three women, all queens, compete for position and power.

Publication Date: August 9, 2016

A GREAT RECKONING (Minotaur Books) by Louise Penny

Beloved Canadian author Louise Penny is back with her 12th installment of the popular Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. The former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec takes on the daunting task of investigating deep-rooted corruption at the famed Sûreté academy. Things heat up when an old adversary is murdered and no one, including Gamache himself, is above suspicion.

Publication Date: August 30, 2016

THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR (Doubleday) by Shari Lapena

With the ‘gone girl’ theme still going strong in popular fiction, it’s no surprise the debut domestic thriller from Toronto writer Shari Lapena focuses on a baby girl gone missing, stolen from her crib, while her parents are at a birthday party for their neighbor. As the police investigation unfolds, no one, it seems, is to be trusted, including the child’s parents, wealthy grandparents and the supposedly friendly couple next door.

Publication Date: August 23, 2016

BY GASLIGHT (McClelland & Stewart) by Steven Price

From award-winning Canadian poet Steven Price comes this dark tale of love and murder set in London, 1885, three years before the real-life Jack the Ripper killings. The story, which spans two decades and travels from the sewers of Victorian London to the diamond mines in South Africa and the American Civil War, follows the complex bond between famed detective William Pinkerton and Adam Foole, a thief whose past is linked with his own.

Publication Date: August 27, 2016

BRIGHT, PRECIOUS DAYS (Knopf) by Jay McInerney

He’s been called a modern day F.Scott Fitzgerald, and now ten years after his last novel, The Good Life (2006), Jay McInerney returns to protagonists Russell and Corrine Calloway who we first met in Brightness Falls (1992). The couple, now in their 50s, are living the New York dream: book parties, high-society charity events, jobs they love, twin children, a loft in TriBeCa and summers in the Hamptons. But the global economic collapse and the reappearance of a former lover turns their world upside down, testing their marriage in ways they never expected.

Publication Date: August 2, 2016