Skip to content

New Fiction in July

Home » Check It Out Blog » Books » New Fiction in July

Check out these new releases for the summer.

Looking for more personalized suggestions? Fill out our new Choose My Next Book form to receive five titles hand-picked just for you, or feel free to give us a call at 847/590-4070

A photo of Somebody's Fool

Somebody’s Fool

Russo, Richard, 1949- author.

Ten years after the death of the magnetic Donald “Sully” Sullivan, the town of North Bath is going through a major transition as it is annexed by its much wealthier neighbor, Schuyler Springs. Peter, Sully’s son, is still grappling with his father’s tremendous legacy as well as his relationship to his own son, Thomas, wondering if he has been all that different a father than Sully was to him. Meanwhile, the towns’ newly consolidated police department falls into the hands of Charice Bond, after the resignation of Doug Raymer, the former North Bath police chief and Charice’s ex-lover. When a decomposing body turns up in the abandoned hotel situated between the two towns, Charice and Raymer are drawn together again and forced to address their complicated attraction to one another. Across town, Ruth, Sully’s married ex-lover, and her daughter Janey struggle to understand Janey’s daughter, Tina, and her growing obsession with Peter’s other son, Will. Amidst the turmoil, the town’s residents speculate on the identity of the unidentified body, and wonder who among their number could have disappeared unnoticed.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Pink Lemonade Cake Murder

Pink Lemonade Cake Murder

Fluke, Joanne, 1943- author.

The Tri-County Summer Solstice Celebration has come to town, and even among local artisans, athletes, and marching bands, Hannah attracts fans of her own while serving lip-smacking pink lemonade desserts. But the mood sours when a body turns up, leading revelers to wonder if the festivities mark both the longest day of the year and the deadliest. A retired professional MLB player has met a terrifying end and, considering the rumors swirling about his past, the list of suspects could fill a small stadium. Among them could soon be Delores, Hannah s mother, who publicly held a grunge against the victim after he infamously dunked her in the tank at a previous county fair. Now, with her mother’s innocence on the line, a life-changing announcement at The Cookie Jar, and a plethora of desserts to bake, Hannah can’t afford to strike out as she begins a dangerous investigation into the ruthless killer who’s truly in a league of their own.

More

Checking status…

A photo of An Evil Heart

An Evil Heart

Castillo, Linda, author.

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates the brutal death of a young Amish man in An Evil Heart, the latest installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo. On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just twenty years old, well liked, and from an upstanding Amish family. Who would commit such a heinous crime against a young man whose life was just beginning? The more Kate gets to know his devastated family and the people-both English and Amish-who loved him, the more determined she becomes to solve the case. Aden Karn was funny and hardworking and looking forward to marrying his sweet fiancé, Emily. All the while, Kate’s own wedding day to Tomasetti draws near… But as she delves into Karn’s past, Kate begins to hear whispers about a dark side. What if Aden Karn wasn’t the wholesome young man everyone admired? Is it possible the rumors are a cruel campaign to blame the victim? Kate pursues every lead with a vengeance, sensing an unspeakable secret no one will broach. The case spirals out of control when a young Amish woman comes forward with a horrific story that pits Kate against a dangerous and unexpected opponent. When the awful truth is finally uncovered, Kate comes face to face with the terrible consequences of a life lived in all the dark places.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Cutting Teeth

Cutting Teeth

Baker, Chandler

Ten preschoolers develop an unsettling medical condition that leaves them craving blood and are implicated, along with their mothers, in the murder of their young teacher in the new novel from the author of Whisper Network.

Checking status…

A photo of The Librarianist

The Librarianist

deWitt, Patrick, 1975- author.

Bob Comet is a retired librarian, isolated but not lonely, living out his quiet days in a mint-colored house in Oregon…One morning, out on his daily walk, he performs an act of kindness that brings him into contact with a nearby senior center, where he soon begins volunteering. Here, as a community of peers and friends gathers around Bob,… the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed. Behind Bob Comet’s plain facade is the story of an unhappy child’s runaway adventure, of true love found and stolen away, of the purpose and pride found in vocation, and the ultimate acceptance of a life lived to the side of the masses.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Flop Dead Gorgeous

Flop Dead Gorgeous

Rosenfelt, David, author.

Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter remembers every dog that’s come through the Tara Foundation’s doors, but the most well-known alum of the dog rescue organization that Andy founded in Paterson, New Jersey, may be Mamie. Adopted by famous actress Jenny Nichols–Andy’s high school girlfriend–the miniature French poodle is now practically a starlet in her own right. Andy doesn’t hold it against his friend. In fact, he and his wife, Laurie, have dinner with Jenny while she’s in town filming her next big hit. But after an eventful meal, there’s a plot twist the next morning that none of them see coming: Jenny’s costar is found dead, a knife in his back. It’s not long before Jenny is arrested for the murder and finds herself in need of Andy’s legal services. While Mamie becomes reacquainted with Tara, Andy’s golden retriever, Andy digs into the lives of the rich and famous.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Mrs. Plansky's Revenge

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge

Quinn, Spencer, author.

Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn’t changed her killer tennis game one bit. One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges–after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven’t gotten a simple “thank you” for a gift sent weeks ago. Not that she’s counting. By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta’s life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim. In a courageous bid for justice, Mrs. Plansky follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back-and perhaps find a new lease on life, too.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Obsessed

Obsessed

Patterson, James, 1947- author.

When a killer becomes obsessed with his oldest daughter, Detective Michael Bennett will do anything to keep his family safe as he races against time to crack this superstitious killer’s code.

Checking status…

A photo of Circle of Death

Circle of Death

Patterson, James, 1947- author.

In the year 2088, the doomsday clock inches towards midnight. The Command, synonymously the World Destroyer, is on the loose. Not even Lamont Cranston, the Shadow’s alter ego, knows who he is, but the clock is ticking as people around the world drop dead by the day, with the attack at the World’s Fair the most sinister yet. It’s up The Shadow and his band of allies to stop the end of the world.

More

Checking status…

A photo of The Housekeepers

The Housekeepers

Hay, Alex (Writer), author.

Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she’s made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows. When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge: A black market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs. King’s predecessor, with her own desire for vengeance. Their plan? On the night of the house’s highly anticipated costume ball–set to be the most illustrious of the year–they will rob it of its every possession, right under the noses of the distinguished guests and their elusive heiress host. But there’s one thing Mrs. King wants even more than money: the truth. And she’ll run any risk to get it…

More

Checking status…

A photo of Flags on the Bayou

Flags on the Bayou

Burke, James Lee, 1936- author.

In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi river. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is retreating toward Texas, and being replaced by Red Legs, irregulars commanded by a maniacal figure, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom. When Hannah Laveau, an enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed–and did–as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle’s plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah. Flags on the Bayou is an engaging, action-packed narrative that includes a duel that ends in disaster, a brutal encounter with the local Union commander, repeated skirmishes with Confederate irregulars led by a diseased and probably deranged colonel, and a powerful story of love blossoming between an unlikely pair. As the story unfolds, it illuminates a past that reflects our present in sharp relief. James Lee Burke, whose “evocative prose remains a thing of reliably fierce wonder” (Entertainment Weekly), expertly renders the rich Louisiana landscape, from the sunsets on the Mississippi River to the dingy saloons of New Orleans to the tree-lined shores of the bayou and the cottonmouth snakes that dwell in its depths. Powerful and deeply moving, Flags on the Bayou is a story of tragic acts of war, class divisions upended, and love enduring through it all.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Everyone Here is Lying

Everyone Here is Lying

Lapena, Shari, 1960- author.

Welcome to Stanhope. A safe neighborhood. A place for families. On the surface, William Wooler is a family man. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper. Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing. Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbors become increasingly unhinged. Who took Avery Wooler? Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Hello Stranger

Hello Stranger

Center, Katherine

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, and work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls in love—not with one man but two. The timing couldn’t be worse.

More

Checking status…

A photo of The Collector

The Collector

Silva, Daniel, 1960- author.

“On the morning after the Venice Preservation Society’s annual black-tie gala, art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon enters his favorite coffee bar on the island of Murano to find General Cesare Ferrari, the commander of the Art Squad, eagerly awaiting his arrival. The Carabinieri have made a startling discovery in the Amalfi villa of a murdered South African shipping tycoon–a secret vault containing an empty frame and stretcher matching the dimensions of the world’s most valuable missing painting. General Ferrari asks Gabriel to quietly track down the artwork before the trail once again goes cold … The painting in question is The Concert by Johannes Vermeer, one of thirteen works of art stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. With the help of a most unlikely ally, a beautiful Danish computer hacker and professional thief, Gabriel soon discovers that the painting has changed hands as part of an illicit billion-dollar business deal involving a man code-named the Collector, an energy executive with close ties to the highest levels of Russian power. The missing masterpiece is the linchpin of a conspiracy that could plunge the world into a conflict of apocalyptic proportions.

More

Checking status…

A photo of An Honest Man

An Honest Man

Koryta, Michael, author.

After discovering seven men murdered aboard their yacht–including two Senate rivals–Israel Pike is regarded as a prime suspect. A troubled man infamous on Salvation Point Island for killing his own father a decade before, Israel has few options, no friends, and a life-threatening secret. Elsewhere on the island, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin seeks shelter from his alcoholic father in an abandoned house only to discover that he is not alone. A mysterious woman greets him with a hatchet and a promise: “Make a sound and I’ll kill you.” As the investigation barrels forward, Lyman, Israel, and the fate of the case collide in immutable ways.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Crook Manifesto

Crook Manifesto

Whitehead, Colson, 1969- author.

It s 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It s strictly the straight-and-narrow for him until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated and deadly. 1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney s endearingly violent partner in crime. It s getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook to their regret. 1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. (“Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!”), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney s tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Silver Nitrate

Silver Nitrate

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia, author.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Trist̀n, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood. Then Trist̀n discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives–even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed. Now the director wants Montserrat and Trist̀n to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse…but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Trist̀n begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend. As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Trist̀n may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Zero-Sum

Zero-Sum

Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938- author.

A brilliant young philosophy student bent on seducing her famous philosopher-mentor finds herself outmaneuvered; diabolically clever high school girls wreak a particularly apt sort of vengeance on sexual predators in their community; a man returns from the dead to haunt his grieving wife; a young mother finds herself captivated by her own motherhood. In the collection’s longest story, a much-praised writer cruelly experiments with “drafts” of his own suicide. In these powerfully wrought stories that hold a mirror up to our time, Joyce Carol Oates has created a world of erotic obsession, thwarted idealism, and ever-shifting identities. Provocative and stunning, Zero Sum reinforces Oates’s standing as a literary treasure and an artist of the mysterious interior life.

More

Checking status…

A photo of All the Demons Are Here

All the Demons Are Here

Tapper, Jake, author.

It’s 1977. Ike and Lucy, the kids of Senator Charlie and Margaret Marder, are grown up–and in trouble. US Marine Ike has gone AWOL after a military operation gone horribly wrong. Now he’s off the grid, working on the pit crew of the moody stunt master Evel Knievel and hanging in the roughest dive bar in Montana. His sister Lucy has become the star reporter of a brand-new Washington, DC tabloid breaking stories about a serial killer and falling in with the wealthy, shady British family that owns the newspaper. As they deal with the weirdness and menace of the time–celebrities, cults, the rise of tabloid journalism, the death of Elvis Presley, the Summer of Sam, and a time of national unease–Ike and Lucy soon realize that their worlds are not only full of compromises and bad choices, but danger. As their lives begin to spiral out of control, they also spiral towards one another. And the decisions they make could mean life and death not only for them–but also their beloved parents.

More

Checking status…

A photo of The Little Village of Book Lovers

The Little Village of Book Lovers

George, Nina, 1973- author.

A young woman with the extraordinary power to bring soulmates together searches for her own true love in this tender, lyrical standalone novel inspired by the “bona fide international hit” (The New York Times Book Review) The Little Paris Bookshop In Nina George’s New York Times bestseller The Little Paris Bookshop, beloved literary apothecary Jean Perdu is inspired to create a floating bookstore after reading a seminal, pseudonymous novel about a young woman with a remarkable gift. This is that novel. “Everyone knows me, but none can see me. I am that thing you call Love.” In a little town in the south of France in the 1960s, a dazzling encounter with Love itself changes the life of little Marie-Jeanne forever. As a girl, Marie-Jeanne realizes she can see the marks Love has left on the people around her–little glowing lights on the faces and hands that shimmer more brightly when the one meant for them is near. Before long, Marie-Jeanne is playing matchmaker, bringing true loves together in her little town. As she grows up, she helps her father begin a mobile library that travels all throughout the many small mountain towns in the region, and finds herself bringing soulmates together every place they go. In fact, the only person that she can’t seem to find a soulmate for is herself. She has no glow of her own, though she waits and waits for it to appear. Everyone must have a soulmate, surely–but will Marie-Jeanne be able to recognize hers when Love finally comes to her?

More

Checking status…

A photo of Dead Fall

Dead Fall

Thor, Brad, author.

In the war-ravaged borderlands of Ukraine, a Russian military unit has gone rogue. Its members, conscripted from the worst prisons and mental asylums across Russia, are the most criminally violent, psychologically dangerous combatants to ever set foot upon the modern battlefield. With all attention focused on the frontlines, they have pushed deeper into the interior to wage a campaign of unspeakable barbarity. As they move from village to village, committing horrific war crimes, they meet little resistance as all able-bodied men are off fighting the war. Simultaneously, a team of Russian mercenaries has been dispatched by the Kremlin to loot truckloads of art and priceless cultural treasures hidden away in a host of churches, museums, and private homes. When multiple American aid workers are killed, America’s top spy is sent in to settle the score. But in a country almost the size of Texas, will Harvath be able to find the men in question and, more importantly, will he be able to stop them before they can kill again?

More

Checking status…

A photo of Must Love Flowers

Must Love Flowers

Macomber, Debbie, author.

Joan Sample is not living the life she expected. Now a widow and an empty-nester, she has become by her own admission something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to reengage with the world. With her support, Joan gathers the courage to take some long-awaited steps: hiring someone to tame her overgrown garden, joining a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan is starting to feel a little like herself again. Across town, Maggie Herbert works mornings as a barista, tending to impatient customers before rushing to afternoon nursing classes. She’s been living with her alcoholic father, ducking his temperamental outbursts and struggling to pay the household bills. But her circumstances brighten when she finds a room for rent in Joan’s home. In the unexpected warmth of her new situation, Maggie finds a glimmer of hope for a better life. But will Maggie’s budding attraction to one of her favorite customers ruin the harmony she’s only recently found with Joan? Meanwhile, what is Joan to make of the mysterious landscaper who’s been revitalizing her garden-a man who seems to harbor a past loss of his own? As Maggie and Joan confront unfamiliar life choices, they find themselves leaning on each other in surprising ways–discovering in the process that “family” is often just another word for love in all its forms.

More

Checking status…

A photo of After Death

After Death

Koontz, Dean R. (Dean Ray), 1945- author.

Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which everyone perished–including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry. Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he–or anyone else–has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most violent street gangs in Los Angeles. But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas. Calaphas will stop at nothing to get his man. If Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time. From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John–and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Prom Mom

Prom Mom

Lippman, Laura, 1959- author.

Amber Glass has spent her entire adult life putting as much distance as possible between her and her hometown of Baltimore, where she fears she will forever be known as “Prom Mom”-the girl who allegedly killed her baby on the night of the prom after her date, Joe Simpson, abandoned her to pursue the girl he really liked. But when circumstances bring Amber back to the city, she realizes she can have a second chance-as long as she stays away from Joe, now a successful commercial real estate developer, married to a plastic surgeon, Meredith, to whom he is devoted. The problem is, Amber can’t stay away from Joe. And Joe finds that it’s increasingly hard for him to ignore Amber, if only because she remembers the boy he was and the man he said he was going to be. Against the surreal backdrop of 2020 and early 2021, the two are slowly drawn to each other and eventually cross the line they’ve been trying not to cross. And then Joe asks Amber to help him do the unthinkable.

More

Checking status…

© Copyright 2023 Mount Prospect Public Library,
All RIghts Reserved

Mount Prospect Public Library

Install Mount Prospect Public Library

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap then “Add to Home Screen”