A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci

 Ten years in the making, A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci may be his magnum opus as he has reached back into the years of his childhood in the 1960s in Richmond, Virginia, to craft this courtroom drama and historical fiction. Available in April, the novel tackles a murder case in which it is purported that an elderly white couple was murdered by their black handyman, Jerome Washington, in fictitious Freeman County, Virginia.

Two lawyers, one white, Jack Lee, and one black, Desiree DuBose, represent Washington in a case where the odds are stacked against the defendant. Lee has no experience representing a person of another race nor has he ever tried a murder case. Reaching out to him is DuBose from Chicago who has devoted her law career to achieving justice for all, fresh off the case of Loving v. Virginia.

Outside the courtroom, the two lawyers are hassled by police and private citizens. Rumors fly that Lee and Dubose are a romantic couple, and in the 1960s environment in the South, the very idea enrages many of the townsfolk. Before the court case reaches its end, someone will be shot at, another will lose a home and office to a disaster, and a harmless, brain-damaged young woman will be  brutally attacked without provocation.

Up against Virginia’s Attorney General Edmund Battle for the prosecution, the two defense lawyers face challenge after challenge: an all white, all male jury, a biased judge, and trickery by the prosecution at every turn starting with a signed plea of guilt from Washington, a man who signs his name with an X. The challenges the lawyers face in court and the shocking ending, echo the injustice described in the Pulitzer award-winning To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee published in 1960.

David Baldacci has published 40+ novels for grownups since his first book Absolute Power in 1996. A Virginia native, Baldacci and his wife Michelle co-founded the Wish You Well Foundation that works to increase literacy in the United States.

 

The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline

 Meet Philadelphia family Marie, Paul, John, Gabby, and Thomas, known as TJ, in The Truth About the Devlins, the latest domestic thriller from Lisa Scottoline coming out at the end of March. The Devlins are a lawyer family except for TJ, who has served a short sentence in prison and rehabilitation for alcoholism. However, he works for the family law practice as an investigator.

TJ finds himself on a downward spiral when his brother John admits to killing Neil Lemaire, an embezzling accountant who worked for Devlins’ client Runstan Electronics on the verge of being acquired by another company in a lucrative deal John has brokered. TJ and John head to the deserted spot by Knickerbocker Quarry where John said he left the body…but there is no body, no maroon Volvo, and no bloody rock that John said he threw when Lemaire pulled a gun. TJ goes into search mode that night and the next day to find Lemaire, but the police found him first, shot in the head in a white Mercedes parked at Dutton Run Park.

In a flash, John turns on TJ by trying to get the family to believe that TJ is drinking again and he, not John, must have had something to do with the death of the accountant. TJ has already lost so much: time in prison and rehab, the love of his life and her daughter, and credibility with his family.

When TJ comes clean with his family—minus John—about what has been going on starting with John bashing the accountant with a rock, they do not believe him. His drinking history colors his present status especially with his father who believes TJ has relapsed as John has said. Things are spinning out of control as another death occurs, people are following TJ, and his  home and car have been bugged. Soon the police turn up at his door because, after all, TJ has a criminal past.

While TJ begins to lose hope in this tangled web of intrigue, his sister Gabby asks for his help in a pro bono case seeking justice for former prisoners of the Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia who were used as guinea pigs for the drug testing by real-life Dr. Albert Kligman, a dermatology professor at Penn’s medical school. With the author’s recent interest in writing historical fiction, Scottoline incorporates the experimenting with Tretinoin, an acne medication that Kligman was developing, which works by exfoliating the skin. The tests resulted in devastating health problems for the men who were involved in the drug trials.

The pro bono case is a distraction for TJ who is desperate to open his family’s eyes to the truth about John and the Runstan acquisition. What can he do to redirect the police to the actual guilty parties? Could he possibly be headed back to jail for something he did not do? Is the truth about the Devlins going to shatter their world?

Lisa Scottoline, a former lawyer, has written more than two dozen novels as well as co-authored  nine humorous books with her daughter Francesca Serritella. A long-time writer of a lawyer series and thrillers, she has started writing historical fiction as well with the books Eternal and Loyalty. She lives in Philadelphia with her horses, numerous dogs and cats, and a life-size cutout of Bradley Cooper.

 

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

In the latest romance, Expiration Dates, from author Rebecca Serle, 33-year-old Daphne Bell has had six important relationships, one weekend in Paris, and 42 first dates over a period of 20 years…all determined by some kind of cosmic force. Coming out in early March, the novel relies on  magic realism with names of men and the length of the relationships showing up on such things as slips of paper, a post card, and a fortune cookie, all describing the who and the length of the romance.

This phenomenon started in fifth grade when she received a post card that said “Seth 8 days” that pointed to a kid in soccer who became her very first boyfriend. Her relationship with Hugo is to last 3 months, with Noah, 5 weeks, with Martin, 3 days, and so on. Daphne relies on the messages from the universe telling her how long a relationship will last so she is always prepared and never heartbroken.

Then along comes Jake with no indication of time to be spent together making Daphne believe Jake is her forever guy. He is a great prospect, everything Daphne would look for in a lifetime partner. However, he has suffered a great loss before meeting Daphne, and she has a huge secret that could change their course.

What happens if Daphne reveals her secret to Jake who wants something more than a casual relationship? How will Hugo’s reappearance in her life affect her feelings about Jake? How can her secret compromise everything in life?

Rebecca Serle is the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years, The Dinner List, and One Italian Summer. With the help of a writer-producer-director, Serle turned her young adult book Famous in Love into a TV series that lasted two seasons. Serle lives in Los Angeles.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 18, 2024.

I would like to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

After Annie by Anna Quindlen

 Annie’s four children, her husband, and her best friend must find a path forward after Annie suffers a fatal aneurysm in After Annie by Anna Quindlen coming out February 27. The novel covers five seasons as those left behind deal with struggle after struggle as they find their way without the woman they so dearly love.

While the community of Greengrass embraces the Browns, husband Bill finds life overwhelming as he is the sole keeper of the family now. He realizes more than ever before just how much Annie steered them all in their day-to-day life.

As the eldest at 13, daughter Ali assumes many of the daily responsibilities with the younger three children: Ant, Benjy, and Jamie. Annemarie, Annie’s lifelong pal and Ali’s godmother, falters in her sobriety without Annie to pull her back from the edge.

Within a couple of months, Bill allows himself to be pursued by his high school girlfriend Liz who tries to worm herself into the lives of the children. Ali is furious to learn that while she had gone to a sleepover, her father had left the boys home alone to be with Liz. Ali’s fury is unleashed as she watches her father kiss Liz in their driveway. Ant is terribly upset thinking that his father is going to marry Liz.

Ali continues to hold her own in her studies but is mandated by the school system to see the counselor because of her mother’s death. At first Ali tries to reveal nothing in these sessions because her best friend warned her that she doesn’t have to tell a counselor anything. Instead, Ali finds Philomena Cruz to be a guiding light as she steers Ali to talk about her mother when no one else can seem to. Eventually her brother Ant and her father will get guidance from Miss Cruz as well. A life-changing surprise steers Annemarie back on course.

Time does not heal all the Browns and Annamarie soon learn, but Annie’s love transcends death as her family and Annamarie move forward step by step to find their way once again. Quindlen’s deft hand is what makes this story work so that it is redeeming and hopeful rather than a downer.

Anna Quindlen, a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists, won the Pulitzer Prize as a columnist at The New York Times. Her semi-autobiographical novel One True Thing (1994) served as the basis for the 1998 film starring Meryl Streep and Renée Zellweger. She lives in Manhattan.

 

The Guest by B.A. Paris

 The Guest in the latest from B.A. Paris due out February 20 is Laure, a long-time friend of Iris and Gabriel, who has left her husband Pierre in France having learned he has fathered a child by another woman. Welcome at first, Laure is soon trying her friends’ patience as all she talks about is Pierre, and she is making no plans to leave their British countryside home and return to Paris.

Gabriel is already stressed having left his medical practice suffering from burnout and trauma as his father has just died, his dog followed suit, and Gabriel could not save a young man named Charlie who Gabriel encountered on his daily run. Charlie had crashed his bike at the nearby quarry, and his last words before dying weigh heavily on Gabriel. Added to his burden is the guest who will not go home after weeks and weeks of staying with Gabriel and Iris. As Benjamin Franklin once said, ““Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”

Having left Paris with nothing, Laure continues to borrow Iris’ clothes rather than go shopping,  follows Iris around like a lost puppy dog, and interferes with Iris’ interior decorating business. Worse, Laure quits her job in Paris with no plans for the future. Plus, Laure’s constant questions about Charlie’s death are unwelcome as Iris is doing everything she can to pull Gabriel out of his depression.

A new couple in the neighborhood brings some relief as they welcome Laure to visit. However, the downside is that Laure takes up with their gardener Joseph, a young man who was sacked from his previous gardening job at a school after becoming too friendly with a student, giving her his phone number and planning a trip to Thailand with her.

Before the thriller plays out, more characters will wind up dead, Pierre is indeed a father, and everything readers thought was true turns topsy-turvy thanks to an unreliable narrator.

B.A. Paris, known for her page-turning plots, does not disappoint with The Guest. The author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back, and The Dilemma, she was a bank trader and teacher in France before turning to writing fiction. She  lives with her husband in a cottage in Hampshire, England.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 6, 2024.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

 In New York City after the end of World War II, Fanny Fabricant, along with her daughter Chloe, welcomed her husband Max home from the war in The Trouble with You by Ellen Feldman arriving on bookshelves February 20. A college graduate, Fanny thought she was prepared for a life as a wife and mother until tragedy struck the young family.

Fanny soon finds herself selling her home and in dire need of finding work. With a cum laude degree in the liberal arts from Barnard College, she could not find a job calling for that kind of background. With the help of her Aunt Rose who knows Alice Anderson, a writer of radio serial scripts, Fanny secured the job of Alice’s secretary to support herself and Chloe.

 

Two men eventually attract her attention: Charlie Berlin, another script writer who is a step away from being blacklisted during the McCarthy Era, and Ezra Rapaport, a pediatrician who wants to marry Fanny partly to rescue her from working to support her child who is his patient.

 

But Fanny does not want to quit work if she remarries because her boss is giving her a chance to write some scripts, and Fanny genuinely enjoys her job. Charlie appreciates Fanny’s efforts at script writing and soon talks a reluctant Fanny into being his “front” once he is blacklisted. While both men love her, Ezra wants to turn her back into a housewife, and Charlie cannot marry her or she would be blacklisted by association. Which pathway forward will Fanny choose?

 

Ellen Feldman is well educated like her protagonist Fanny as she attended Bryn Mawr College, from which she holds a B.A. and an M.A. in modern history, and she did graduate studies in history at Columbia University. Having  worked for a New York publishing house, Feldman writes both fiction and social history, and has published articles on the history of divorce, plastic surgery, Halloween, and many other topics. She lives with her husband in New York.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 5, 2024.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.