Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.

Big Books of the Week

The Hunter by Tana French (Viking) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger (Park Row)

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur)

Never Too Late by Danielle Steel (Delacorte)

The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

These books and others publishing the week of March 4, 2024, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Nine LibraryReads and eleven Indie Next picks publish this week:

This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan (Forever: Grand Central)

“In this crossover book featuring characters first introduced in Before I Let Go, Ryan follows Soledad Barnes as she builds a new life as a single mother after an unexpected divorce, and faces an even more unexpected chance at new love. Readers can count on Ryan for nuanced characters and mature relationships.”—Anna Mickelsen, LibraryReads Board

Hall of Fame picks include The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger (Park Row), Murder Road by Simone St. James (Berkley; LJ starred review), and Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur). 

Hall of Fame pick The Hunter by Tana French (Viking) is also an Indie Next pick:

“With sharp dialogue and expert character development, Tana French transports readers to the Irish countryside in The Hunter. Asking what we owe our community, this novel secures French’s place at the top of the literary mystery genre.”—Leslie Logemann, Highland Books, Brevard, NC

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (Celadon)

“Lucy murdered her best friend, Savvy—at least, that's what her small town believes. When a podcaster comes along searching for the truth, Lucy finally confronts the past. A cast of morally corrupt characters lead readers on a wild goose chase to solve the murder and the mystery of Lucy’s missing memories.”—Andrea Galvin, Mt. Pulaski Public Library, IL

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Darkly witty and beautifully thrilling, Listen for the Lie is an amazing adult debut from Amy Tintera. This murder mystery is filled with comedy, drama, and a riveting pace that will make readers fall completely in love!”—Sara Canelon, Adventures By The Book, San Diego, CA

Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage (Dial)

“The second book in the ‘Rebel Blue Ranch’ series is a swoony and sweet small-town romance. Readers who like found family, emotionally intelligent couples, and just overall cuteness will look forward to more in this quick-read cowboy romance.”—Yentl Diego, Smith Public Library, TX

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering (St. Martin’s)

“Longing to reconnect with her best friend, Billie West stalks her on Instagram, and in one desperate moment takes her friends’ infant baby, only to return her a few hours later, anonymously. Can she reconstruct her life and live with the consequences of her rash decision or has she destroyed everything that was good in her life?”—Jennifer Winberry, Hunterdon County Library, NJ

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Tell Me Lies made me a Carola Lovering fan, and she has not disappointed since. Bye, Baby is as dark and thrilling as ever and may be my favorite work she’s ever done.”—Kailey Fox, Kingfisher Bookstore, Coupeville, WA

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez (Ecco)

“Set during the construction of the Panama Canal, this novel captures the lives of the people in the canal’s orbit: locals, laborers, and a doctor studying mosquito-borne illnesses. An atmospheric and compelling novel filled with characters that leap off the page and into readers’ hearts.”—Rachel Roone, Mid-Continent Public Library, MO

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“The building of the Panama Canal is the backdrop of The Great Divide, paired with the omniscient and wondrous writing of Cristina Henríquez. This is a book of great ebb and flow as the richness of varying characters intersect.”—Kristy Creager, Mitzi’s Books, Rapid City, SD

Seven additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Red Clay Suzie by Jeffrey Dale Lofton (Post Hill Pr.)

“Red Clay Suzie and Philbet’s coming-of-age story stole my heart. Jeffrey Dale Lofton is a writer to watch. Highly recommend!”—Karen Schwettman, FoxTale Book Shoppe, Woodstock, GA

The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan (Catapult)

“The Hearing Test is a love letter not just to humanity but human connection. Eliza Barry Callahan is one to watch!”—Audrey Kohler, BookWoman, Austin, TX

Your Absence Is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, tr. by Philip Roughton (Biblioasis)

“Add Your Absence is Darkness to the ever-growing pile of Icelandic classics. This deeply moving novel—full of love, stories large and small, and unforgettable characters—caresses and crashes like the waves against the island’s shores.”—Stephen Sparks, Point Reyes Books, Point Reyes Station, CA

Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon (Scribner)

“The Demeter and Persephone legend, placed in a modern setting with constant tension. The novel portrays all the power, control, corruption, and gender disparity in modern society and the unrelenting, visceral ferocity of a mother’s love.”—Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, MS

Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha LaPointe (Counterpoint)

“Thunder Song is an insightful account of growing up Indigenous and Queer on stolen land. LaPointe is not consumed with sitting in trauma, but in finding a way forward joyfully and caring for herself and the people around her. Not to be missed.”—Margaret Leonard, Dotters Books, Eau Claire, WI

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (Flatiron)

“A captivating read about two Latinas who defy erasure: One, a trailblazing first-gen Ivy Leaguer, the other, a murdered artist hidden by New York’s art scene. Gonzalez highlights resilience against erasure and the quest for justice.”—Claudia Vega, Whose Books, Dallas, TX

The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft (Bloomsbury; LJ starred review)

“In elegant prose, Croft beautifully blurs the lines between reality and fiction, translation and translated, leaving the reader with a deep sense of wonder and awe for the labyrinthine universes that exist between languages and places.”—Maxwell Shanley, Green Apple Books & Music, San Francisco, CA

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange (Knopf). Also getting attention are Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (Flatiron) and This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan (Forever: Grand Central). A “Twisty Novels” section highlights Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon (Scribner), The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft (Bloomsbury; LJ starred review), and Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (Celadon). 

There is a feature on Dune Part Two, based on the novels by Frank Herbert, and a feature on actor and author Eriq La Salle, highlighting his “Martyr Maker” series. Plus, a recipe from Darina Allen, Grow, Cook, Nourish: 400 Seasonal Recipes from the Ballymaloe Cookery School Kitchen Garden (Kyle Bks.).

Reviews

NYT reviews Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet (S. & S.): “There’s something undeniable about Crucet’s characters—they feel so real in how the deck remains stacked against them”; Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi (Riverhead): “What warmth there is in Parasol comes from the spark that ignites between a person and a book, a person and another person, or even a person and a city”; The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis (Pegasus): “If the narrative takes some time to get going, the reader is rewarded by the increasingly bonkers trials and their fallout”; Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (Flatiron): “It asks a good deal of a reader to shape-shift with Anita, and while many may gladly make that jump with the author, I found I wasn’t one of them”; A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America by Richard Slotkin (Belknap): “It is clear that in recent years competing mythologies have played out in rhetoric, activism and visions of government. But it’s less clear that these mythologies have the kind of explanatory force Slotkin hangs on them”; Your Absence Is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, tr. by Philip Roughton (Biblioasis): “Each story could stand on its own; one of the pleasures of the novel is the slow revelation of their connections”; and Double Click: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines by Carol Kino (Scribner): “Although Kino, a longtime arts journalist, bills Franny and Fuffy as the stars of Double Click, her book is really a history of New York’s fashion magazines.”

NPR reviews I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir by Maurice Vellekoop (Pantheon): “Armed from a young age with an ability to find beauty and connection in all manner of storytelling forms, from the so-called lowbrow to the most classical of works, Vellekoop packs his passages—from public high school and arts college into the post-collegiate Toronto scene and, later, travels to New York City—with all manner of references, from which he draws inspiration.”

WSJ reviews The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle To Power Our Lives by Ernest Scheyder (Atria: One Signal): “Mr. Scheyder guides us through the troubled history of mining and revisits some of the conflicts associated with mining over the centuries. The example that begins and ends his book is a small buckwheat plant in Nevada, on the site of a proposed mine, that leads him to ask: ‘What matters more, the plant or the lithium beneath it’?”

Washington Post reviews The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir by RuPaul (Dey Street; LJ starred review): “Even when it is not lyrical, The House of Hidden Meanings is admirably readable, so long as it sticks to vignettes, particularly those that conjure up the heady days of disco”; The Internationalists: The Fight To Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump by Alexander Ward (Portfolio): “Even though the book concludes with Sullivan’s triumphant proclamation, it’s impossible to read its last chapter without thinking of how the story continued in the months after the manuscript was finished”; A Good Bad Boy: Luke Perry and How a Generation Grew Up by Margaret Wappler (S. & S.): “As a memoir, it’s raw and frequently moving. As a Luke Perry primer, it’s not definitive, but it’s as empathetic as you’re likely to find, a moving meditation on his life and the still-unthinkable strangeness of his absence”; and Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (Celadon): “Through her deep understanding of this impediment to justice, Tintera succeeds as a writer of gritty fiction, using the true-crime genre as her muse.”

Briefly Noted

Jenna Bush Hager pairs two books for her March book club: The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez (Ecco) and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.

The Stella Prize longlist is announced. Books + Publishing has details. 

Time previews 13 books for March. 

Washington Post highlights 10 books for March.

WSJ shares 17 books for the week. 

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books for the week.

Fashion legend and author Iris Apfel, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon (Harper), dies at 102. PBS Canvas has a look at her life.

Authors on Air

Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris (Penguin Pr.; LJ starred review) is being adapted for film, Deadline reports. 

LitHub shares a literary guide to the 2024 Oscars. 

RuPaul, The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir (Dey Street; LJ starred review), will be on GMA today. He will also appear tonight on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Radhi Devlukia-Shetty, JoyFull: Cook Effortlessly, Eat Freely, Live Radiantly (S. & S./Simon Element), joins Drew Barrymore today. 

Blake Butler, Molly (powerHouse), will be on with Tamron Hall

Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.