Top 27 New Book Releases This Week: Aug 27 – Sept 2, 2024

Here are the 27 best new books coming out this week, August 27 to September 2, 2024. Can you feel it? Fall is in the air. Piles of leaves in the yard. School back in session. (Yea, say parents! Boo, say kids.) Apple picking time…then apple pie time. Before the homework piles up, take one last moment to dive into a new book you choose to read.

Scroll down and you’ll quickly figure out how this roundup works. I generally bundle books in a genre together. So this week you’ll find three mysteries and thrillers, followed by fascinating biographies, then three of the best romance books, a cool book about using music therapy in medicine, two works of fiction and so on until I wrap it up with four really good (and really different) picture books, because I love picture books. Got it? So let’s get reading! At the head of the Parade are…

1. The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves
2. Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram From Hell by Dr. John H. Watson, M.D.
3. An Honorable Assassin by Steve Hamilton

Three new mysteries and thrillers for fans.

If you love the Vera TV series starring Brenda Blethyn, know that the next season will be its last and it’s going to be based on this book! But don’t worry; there’s every indication Ann Cleeves will keep the books going.

Nicholas Meyer turned the Sherlock Holmes pastiche into high art with The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and he’s still going strong, mining new diaries from Dr. Watson for another new tale of the great detective.

Steve Hamilton is on his third action adventure starring Nick Mason, a criminal turned assassin-against-his-will for shadowy and highly illegal organizations.

The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves ($29; Minotaur Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram From Hell by Dr. John H. Watson, M.D. ($26.95; Mysterious Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
An Honorable Assassin by Steve Hamilton ($26.99; Blackstone Publishing Inc.) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

4. Christopher Isherwood Inside Out by Katherine Bucknell
5. Empresses of Seventh Avenue by Nancy MacDonell
6. The Strategists by Phillips Payson O’Brien

History comes to life with great works of biography.

Christopher Isherwood is a novelist and memoirist best known for his stories about life in Weimar-era Germany that became the iconic musical Cabaret. But his work is far more than that and this new biography by Katherine Bucknell is enjoying tremendous acclaim.

The world of fashion comes to life when Nancy MacDonell captures the transformation of the US fashion industry from a red-headed stepchild of the “real” center of fashion in Europe to a dominating creative and commercial force in its own right. One big help? World War II.

Historian Phillips Payson O’Brien takes a close look at the WW II figures of Churchill, Stalin, Hitler and FDR. More precisely, he looks at their childhoods and early years, to see how key early impacts on their lives shaped the worldview of these leaders in telling and revealing ways.

Christopher Isherwood Inside Out by Katherine Bucknell ($45; Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Empresses of Seventh Avenue by Nancy MacDonell ($32; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Strategists by Phillips Payson O’Brien ($35; Dutton) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

7. Marriage & Masti by Nisha Sharma
8. Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder
9. Daydream by Hannah Grace

Romance! It comes in all shapes and sizes.

Author Nisha Sharma wondered “what if Shakespeare were an Auntie?” and took the plots of famous plays and gave them an Indian setting. Her latest mines the plot of Twelfth Night to bring mayhem and love into the lives of Veera Mathur and Deepak Datta, just when they’d given up hope.

Head back to high school in Mysterious Ways, where 17 year old Maya is blessed/cursed with the gift of knowing everything about someone just by looking at them. Turns out that’s not so helpful, especially when you’re looking at a cute guy Tyler at your new school. (In general, you really don’t want to know everything about a potential date. Not right away!)

Author Hannah Grace takes us to college where the private tutor for the captain of the hockey team finds she’d like to give him some extra credit work.

Marriage & Masti by Nisha Sharma ($18.99; Avon) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder ($20; Wednesday Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Daydream by Hannah Grace ($19.99; Atria Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

10. I Heard There Was A Secret Chord by Daniel J. Levitin

Some say laughter is the best medicine. Well, how about the songs of Leonard Cohen? In this new work, author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin looks at both the history of musical therapy and the latest evidence for it. Then, just to prove he’s cool, Levitin also brings in the thoughts of artists like Sting and blurbs from Neil deGrasse Tyson and Paul McCartney.

I Heard There Was A Secret Chord by Daniel J. Levitin ($32.50; W.W. Norton & Company) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

11. Beautiful Dreamers by Minrose Gwin
12. A Kid From Marlboro Road by Edward Burns

Two thoughtful works of fiction from writers hailing from vastly different worlds.

Author Minrose Gwin is a native of Mississippi and the talent behind acclaimed novels like The Accidentals. Her latest looks at a family in 1950s Mississippi on the cusp of the Civil Rights movement. Gwin’s other work is in literary criticism and a memoir about her mother. A writer’s writer, Gwin’s career is the sort other writers recognize that attention must be paid.

Hailing from Hollywood and a successful career in film and TV is actor, writer and director Edward Burns of Saving Private Ryan and The Brothers McMullen fame. Instead of a memoir about his years in the biz or a novel with thinly veiled portraits of Hollywood figures, Burns delivers a debut novel voiced by a 12 year old Irish American boy in the Bronx with a tumultuous family history filled with stories and more stories. Just in case you’re wondering, Burns offers up photos from his personal life, detailing the folk who inspired characters in his book.

Beautiful Dreamers by Minrose Gwin ($28; Hub City Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
A Kid From Marlboro Road by Edward Burns ($27.95; Seven Stories Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

13. The 2025 Old Farmer’s Almanac
14. Et Cetera by Maia Lee-Chin; illustrated by Marta Bertello
15. 222 Cemeteries To See Before You Die by Lauren Rhodes

The holidays are approaching and you’re going to need gifts. Don’t worry. I’m working on a collection of books perfect for giving–coffee table books, offbeat titles and the like that go beyond the usual best books of the year list (which I’ll also do) and “oh Grandpa likes that Tom Clancy” idea. Here are three to start.

Some people know they need The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Other people don’t realize they need it, but put it in their hands and they’ll thank you.

Et Cetera is an illustrated guide to Latin phrases like E pluribus unum and that old standby carpe diem. It’s fun, clever and the illustrations really do lodge the phrases in your brain.

222 Cemeteries To See Before You Die is the latest edition of a very popular series. Some people will pull away in horror, but some people in your life–you know the ones–dig this sort of thing. Maybe I’m biased because my mom dragged me through every old cemetery we stumbled across whenever we went traveling.

The 2025 Old Farmer’s Almanac ($10.95; Old Farmer’s Almanac) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Et Cetera by Maia Lee-Chin; illustrated by Marta Bertello ($24.99; Andrews McMeel Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
222 Cemeteries To See Before You Die by Lauren Rhodes ($32; Black Dog & Leventhal) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

16. You’re The Problem, It’s You by Emma R. Alban
17. Confounding Oaths by Alexis Hall
18. I’ll Have What He’s Having by Adib Khorram

Three new gay romances. But here’s the twist: these three books are also exceptionally well-reviewed. So though fans have their personal tastes in life, a good romance is a good romance, no matter who you are. Hence the success of Heartstoppers, both the graphic novels and the TV series. Emma R. Alban follows up her raved about sapphic romance Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend with a period romance featuring two men. Apparently, endearingly awkward titles are her thing.

Alexis Hall (author of the best-selling Boyfriend Material) is back with a fantasy romance in their Mortal Follies series.

Adib Khorram follows this year’s The Breakup Lists (one of the best Young Adult romances of the year) with his adult debut. I’ll Have What He’s Having nods to When Harry Met Sally, adds in great coffee and Persian cooking and delivers what critics are calling another winner.

You’re The Problem, It’s You by Emma R. Alban ($18.99; Avon) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Confounding Oaths by Alexis Hall ($18.99; Del Rey) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
I’ll Have What He’s Having by Adib Khorram ($17.99; Forever) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

19. Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay

This novel is set in the world of Filipino Americans and ranges from 1930 to 2020. Generations of young men come of age and grapple with manhood and their relationships with their fathers, all while dealing with the fraught racial relations of the world they live in. You read the description and reviews, you see the sophisticated cover and think, This could be marketed in Fiction just as easily as Young Adult. Shouldn’t this just be marketed to everyone? With hundreds of books coming out each week, I lean heavily on industry reviewers like Publishers Weekly and when they all agree a book is special, I sit up and take notice. They all agree that both Everything We Never Had and National Book Award finalist writer Randy Ribay are very special indeed.

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay ($18.99; Kokila) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

20. Sunderworld V-01: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs
21. Island Of Whispers by Francis Hardinge; illustrated by Emily Gravett
22. Not Nothing by Gayle Forman
23. The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements

Four fun books that should appeal to kids and the parents who want to read the books their kids (or nieces and nephews or children of friends) are reading.

Ransom Riggs follows his hugely popular series Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children with a new series where a 17 year old kid watches as Los Angeles shapeshifts into the world of a cheesy, now forgotten 1990s fantasy TV show called Sunderworld. And Sunderworld absolutely does not exist. Right?

Author Francis Hardinge is much better known in the UK, more’s the pity because the UK really punches above its weight in kids lit. Island of Whispers is an excellent introduction to her mythmaking, paired nicely with evocative illustrations by Emily Gravett. Buy it and you’ll soon be buying all her books.

Writer Gayle Forman offers up a heart-tugging story of intergenerational friendship in Not Nothing, the story of a kid sentenced to volunteer duty at a senior home. He befriends a 107 (!) year old man who is ready to die but might just take an interest in this moody kid.

Fans of Frindle (the story of a kid causing a ruckus by getting everyone to call a pen a “frindle” instead of a “pen”) miss the late author Andrew Clements. Unexpectedly, five years after he died we’re getting a modern sequel to his 1996 debut novel with The Frindle Files. It has a tough act to follow, but Clements pleased readers with dozens of books over the years and it’s nice to hear from him one more time.

Sunderworld V-01: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs ($21.99; Dutton Books For Young Readers) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Island Of Whispers by Francis Hardinge; illustrated by Emily Gravett ($19.99; Amulet Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Not Nothing by Gayle Forman ($17.99; Aladdin) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements ($17.99; Random House Books For Young Readers) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes &