New Arrivals: The Best Recent Book Releases

Known for his gritty, Southern noir thrillers, S.A. Cosby’s work has redefined the modern crime genre. This summer, he returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired epic where a man must confront dangerous gangsters and unravel family secrets to save his brother and their business.

Writer and poet Rob Franklin’s highly anticipated debut novel, is set to be the summer’s literary sensation. Great Black Hope follows a young Black man from an elite family who finds himself drawn into New York’s underworld. Arrested for cocaine possession, he’s forced to confront the complex interplay of privilege, identity, and race, all while grappling with the unresolved mystery of a close friend’s death.

When his conspiracy-obsessed son-in-law pushes him over the edge, a reclusive journalist retreats to rural Oregon—only to be dragged back into the world when his grandchildren arrive and their mother disappears. Publishers Weekly calls it “a rollicking and heartrending adventure about a broken man determined to set things right in an increasingly divided America.”

The celebrated essayist and author of Out of Sheer Rage turns his gaze to his formative years in 1960s and ’70s Gloucestershire, recalling the life of an only child growing up in a working-class household amid the quiet, persistent churn of postwar Britain. “Funny, forthright, and self-revealing,” declared the Financial Times. “The memory of childhood, to most of us, is a burial chamber long sealed off, but Dyer, like a pith-helmeted explorer, has broken into the tomb.”

In this Tertulia Staff pick, A'Lelia Walker comes alive as the vibrant heiress to Madam C.J. Walker’s empire and the celebrated “joy goddess” of Harlem’s Renaissance. Known for hosting salons that brought together cultural icons like Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois, A'Lelia’s story—told by her great-granddaughter—is a richly detailed portrait of a woman determined to forge her own identity as a patron, entrepreneur, and social trailblazer.

In this spellbinding story, three unforgettable women—from 16th-century Spain to present-day Boston—are bound by hunger, fury, and an urgent need to reclaim their own stories. "Schwab's fantasies are always a big draw, and this enticing tale of lesbian vampires that crosses centuries [is] irresistible," raved Booklist.

Drawing on unprecedented archival and family access, Cooler Than Cool traces Elmore Leonard’s six-decade career, revealing how his blend of noir minimalism, razor-sharp dialogue, and social justice themes reshaped crime fiction. Featuring new excerpts and insights from family and collaborators, this biography uncovers the man behind classics like Get Shorty and Raylan.

"Fraser is determined to make the reader see the worst of the killers’ actions, in vivid but unsensationalistic detail, to underscore the ever-escalating crises that mining and smelting businesses tried to underplay, pay off, or ignore. By the ’90s, as bans on leaded gasoline took effect, smelters closed, and the EPA set stricter pollution standards, the number of serial killers dissipated. Fraser’s book is an engrossing and disturbing portrait of decades of carnage that required decades to confront... A true-crime story written with compassion, fury, and scientific sense." – Kirkus Reviews

The acclaimed author behind two Oprah’s Book Club sensations delivers a powerful story about a new father confronting the aftermath of an unforgivable tragedy. Struggling with addiction and a shattered marriage, his life spirals after a devastating event. Sentenced to prison, he finds unexpected hope through unlikely allies, questioning whether redemption and forgiveness are possible.

The bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six ventures into new territory with her first thriller—a love story set against the backdrop of NASA’s space shuttle program in the 1980s. The novel follows a brilliant astrophysicist determined to become an astronaut, who finds herself entangled in a complex romance and a high-stakes mission that could alter the course of her career—and her life.