New Edelweiss E-galleys (4/10/2024)

Hello e-galley readers! Check out some of the exciting e-galleys that were recently added to Edelweiss for your downloading pleasure:

LAZARUS MAN by Richard Price
9780374168155 | 11/12/24

East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city’s rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day’s end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the tenants are missing.

In LAZARUS MAN, Richard Price, one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America, creates intertwining portraits of a group of compelling and singular characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster.

I’M STARTING TO WORRY ABOUT THIS BLACK BOX OF DOOM by Jason Pargin
9781250285959 | 9/24/24

A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America’s age of anxiety.

Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large, black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC. But there are rules:

He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.

As the pair hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the mysterious woman was living in an apocalypse shack in the wilderness . . . and that her possessions are radioactive. Amateur sleuths, including a retired FBI agent, believe the box is part of a carefully-orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.

What ensues is a chaotic race against time across an angry and anxious nation, an ensemble of eccentric misfits desperately searching for the truth in a dark cloud of paranoia. It quickly becomes clear that regardless of what is or isn’t inside that box, this trip is destined to end in fire and screams.

THE BLOODLESS PRINCES by Charlotte Bond
9781250290779 | 10/29/24

Cursed by the previous practitioner in her new role, and following an . . . incident . . .  with a supremely powerful dragon, High Mage Saralene visits the afterlife with a boon to beg of the Bloodless Princes who run the underworld.

But Saralene and her most trusted advisor/champion/companion, Sir Maddileh, will soon discover that there’s only so much research to be done by studying the old tales, though perhaps there’s enough truth in them to make a start.

Saralene will need more than just her wits to leave the underworld, alive. And Maddileh will need more than just her Fireborne Blade.

A NEW LEASE ON DEATH by Olivia Blacke
9781250336675 | 10/29/24

Ruby Young’s new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost.

Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she’s kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice.

Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can’t solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn’t kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can’t, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. The roommates form an unlikely friendship as they get closer to the truth about Jake’s death . . . and maybe other dangerous secrets as well.

ROUGH PAGES by Lev AC Rosen
9781250322449 | 10/1/24

Private Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers. With bookseller Howard Salzberger gone suspiciously missing along with his address book, everyone on that list, including some of Andy’s closest friends, is now in danger.

A search of Howard’s bookstore reveals that someone wanted to stop him and his co-owner, Dorothea Lamb, from sending out their next book. The evidence points not just to the Feds, but to the Mafia, who would be happy to use the subscriber list for blackmail.

Andy has to maneuver through both the government and the criminal world, all while dealing with a nosy reporter who remembers him from his days as a police detective and wants to know why he’s no longer a cop. With his own secrets closing in on him, can Andy find the list before all the lives on it are at risk?

CABINET OF CURIOUSITIES: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre by Aaron Mahnke
9781250291202 | 11/12/24

The podcast Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities has delighted millions of listeners for years with tales of the wonderful, astounding, and downright bizarre people, places, and things throughout history. Now, in CABINET OF CURIOSITIES the book, learn the fascinating story of the invention of the croissant in a country that was not France, and relive the adventures of a dog that stowed away and went to war, only to help capture a German spy. Along the way, readers will pass through the American state of Franklin, watch Abraham Lincoln’s son be rescued by his assassin’s brother, and learn how too many crash landings inspired one pilot to leave the airline industry and trek for the stars.

For the first time ever, Aaron has gathered scores of his favorites in print, and curated them into a beautiful, topical collection for devoted followers and new fans alike.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN by Rufaro Faith Mazarura
9781250354532 | 7/9/24

Athens, 2024. Olivia Nkomo has always been ambitious, smart, and an overall go-getter. Now that she’s graduated from university, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to land her dream job at the Summer Games. The first step? Securing her new internship, which will put her in the center of all the action, where she hopes to run into some of her favorite athletes.

Ezekiel “Zeke” Moyo, the heartthrob star runner of Team Great Britain, is more than ready to claim his title as the fastest man in the world, following in the footsteps of the greatest athletes of all time. His future to the finish line is looking bright—despite his recent breakup with celebrated gymnast Valentina Ross-Rodriguez constantly making headlines.

When Olivia and Zeke collide—literally—on the first day of training, sparks fly. As the games grow closer, so do Olivia and Zeke. But the competition starts stirring up uncomfortable memories from Zeke’s past . . . and Olivia’s internship doesn’t turn out to be what she expected. Will they be able to overcome these hurdles and achieve their dreams? Or will it come at the cost of their budding romance?

BLOOD OF THE OLD KINGS by Sung-il Kim
9781250895332 | 10/8/24

In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest.

Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she’s willing to fight for it.

Miles away, beneath a volcano, a seven-eyed dragon also wears the Empire’s chains. Before the imperial fist closed around their lands, it was the people’s sacred guardian.

Loran, a widowed swordswoman, is the first to kneel before the dragon in decades. She comes with a desperate plea, and will leave with a sword of dragon-fang in hand and a great purpose before her.

THE GARDENER’S PLOT by Deborah J. Benoit
9781250334978 | 11/5/24

THE GARDENER’S PLOT takes readers to the heart of the Berkshires and introduces amateur sleuth Maggie Walker in Deborah J. Benoit’s award-winning debut.

After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.

When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots . . .  and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

THE SECRET OF THE THREE FATES by Jess Armstrong
9781250909886 | 12/3/24

American heiress Ruby Vaughn still hasn’t entirely forgiven her octogenarian employer and housemate Mr. Owen for bringing the occult into their lives during her recent trip to Cornwall. He claims their journey to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders is simply to appraise and acquire illuminated manuscripts for their rare bookshop. However, when Ruby discovers there are no manuscripts and receives news of a séance to be held that very night, she begins to grow suspicious about the true reason why they have come.

The Great War left grieving families willing to sacrifice anything for the chance to say goodbye to a lost loved one. Mr. Owen is no exception. He is desperate to speak to his son, but he doesn’t want to face the spirits alone. When the séance—hosted by a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates—goes awry, Mr. Owen’s secrets begin to unravel, threatening to reveal a history that he has been running from for half his life. Something Ruby knows all too well how to do.

When Ruby finds one of the Three Fates murdered the night of the seance, she and Mr. Owen quickly become the prime suspects. To clear their names, Ruby enlists the help of Ruan Kivell, the folk healer Pellar who helped her weeks before in Cornwall. As their investigation progresses Ruby and Ruan realize someone is determined to prevent them from uncovering the truth about what happened to the dead medium.