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BTB is published quarterly.
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Beyond the Bestsellers highlights new and notable authors
not often found on bestseller lists.
Discover new books and writers you might enjoy!
To learn more about a book and check on its availablity within the library system, please click or tap on its cover or title.
You can also click / tap an author's name to locate any additional titles by that writer in the library catalog.
General Fiction
 Muck - Deror Burstein -
Allegory / Literary Fiction.
A retelling of the story of the prophet Jeremiah in an Israel that is both ancient and modern.
Jeremiah is a poet and prophet who sees, and fears, the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon as it is under the rule of his former friend Mattaniah (Zedekiah). He is left to wonder how to tell someone just how bleak their future is, and whether the telling is what makes a prophecy come true. A reluctant prophet no one hears must face a king who will not listen in a dispute between faith and practicality.
Try it if you like: Sabbath's Theater or Catch-22.
 The Weight of a Piano - Chris Cander -
Literary Fiction.
Two women connected through an old piano rebuild their lives with the healing power of art.
In Soviet Russia, Katya's life centers on a piano she inherited as a child. She learned to play, compose, and teach with it. Eventually she emigrates to California, where the piano becomes her sole refuge in an unfamiliar land. Clara's only connection to her parents is the piano she cannot play that was gifted on her twelfth birthday, shortly before her parents died in a house fire. Kicked out by her boyfriend, and unable to work due to an injury, Clara puts the piano up for sale but soon regrets the decision. She works out a deal with the prospective buyer, a photographer, and together they journey to Death Valley to photograph the piano and learn how it connects them.
Try it if you like: Accordian Crimes or Painted Drum.
 We Hope for Better Things - Erin Bartels -
Inspirational Fiction.
A heartwarming debut of love and resilience against a backdrop of racism, war, and misunderstanding.
Disgraced journalist Elizabeth Balsam was sure she was on her way to making headlines with a story on the 1967 Detriot riots when she was fired. With nowhere better to turn she takes up a stranger's advice to take a box of photos to her Aunt Nora. Tracking down the aunt she's never met, Elizabeth learns about the women in her family during the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement and their history of love and sacrifice. She must weigh her choice to uncover the truth or air her family's long buried-secrets.
Try it if you like: intricately plotted novels about families.
Other titles to consider:
Historical Fiction
 The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King - Jerome Charyn -
Adventure fiction.
A throwback to old dime-novels full of larger-than-life characters and action-packed adventures, featuring the exploits of the future 26th president.
Beginning with a sickly childhood, suffering with asthma and ending on the threshold of the presidency, historical fact blends with the drama of fiction to bring Theodore Roosevelt alive. Roosevelt's colorful deeds are recounted from his time as a young state assemblyman to fleeing to the Dakota territory in grief, from being a disliked Police Commissioner to the reluctant leader of the Rough Riders.
Try it if you like: action-packed stories with spirited characters.
Other titles to consider:
Mysteries
 The Frame-up - Meghan Scott Molin -
Mystery.
An unlikely team of comic-book writer and by-the-book cop try to unmask a vigilante recreating scenes from comics.
Bored in line at a coffee shop, MG Martin finds herself reading a news article over the shoulder of the man in front of her. A muttered comment about the scene photographed only missing a golden arrow to recreate a panel from the "Hooded Falcon" comic-book catches the attention of LAPD detective Matteo Kildaire. He recruits MG for her expertise in pop-culture to assist in uncovering the want-to-be superhero before anyone gets hurts by the real bad guys he is going after.
Try it if you like: fast-paced clever humor and pop-culture references.
 She Lies in Wait - Gytha Lodge -
Mystery.
Seven friends go into the woods, only six come back.
Thirty years ago seven teens went out on a wild camping trip, where 14-year-old Aurora vanishes. With only hazy recollections of that night, the friends have remained close, but never quite moved on. When Aurora's body is discovered near the campsite, DCI Jonah Sheen reopens the cold case. The seclusion of the area suggests that one of the group must be the killer, but their alibis are all for each other. Sheen must unravel the truth as the present day investigation unfolds alongside Aurora's point-of-view of her last day.
Try it if you like: Tana French or Kate Atkinson.
Other titles to consider:
Romance
 Magnolia Inn - Carolyn Brown -
Romance / Women's Fiction.
Two vulnerable, yet resilient, people find a second chance and healing with a happily ever after.
The inheritance of half of the Magnolia Inn finds Jolene Broussard in business with cop-turned-carpenter Tucker Malone when he buys out her cousin's half. A widower, Tucker is still mourning and hopes the investment will help him move on. Jolene is sympathetic to him and his grief, but wary of his drinking after having lost her mother to addiction. As the renovation of the run down inn continues they begin to find themselves drawn to each other.
Try it if you like: charming stories of second chances.
Other titles to consider:
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
 Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar - Olga Wojtas -
Fantasy / Historical Mystery / Humor.
An Edinburgh librarian is sent back to Tsarist Russia to complete a mission, but first she must figure out what that mission is.
A proud graduate of Miss Blaine's School for Girls, Shona McMonagle is confident that she has the finest education in the world, covering subjects from martial arts to quantum physics to Scottish country dancing, although she can still miss what is right in front of her face. Unfazed when approached with a mission by Miss Blaine herself (despite having been dead for centuries) Shona is sent back to imperial Russia with no other details. Sure that her education will guide her, Shona must use all her wits to insert herself into society, help marry off a wealthy heiress to the right suitor and make sure only the right people are murdered as nobles begin dying.
Try it if you like: Jasper Fforde or Genevieve Cogman.
 Here and Now and Then - Mike Chen -
Science Fiction.
What lengths will a father go to protect his child when he realizes there will never be enough time together?
In 2142 Kin Stewart is an agent for the Temporal Corruption Board, tasked with preventing temporal anomalies. Leaving a fiancée and life behind, Kin is stranded on a mission to the 1990s. He gradually forgets his past and settles down with a wife and daughter in a new life for eighteen years. A fellow TCB agent eventually finds Kin and forcibly returns him to 2142 where he finds his old life completely unfamiliar. When Kin learns that his daughter is seen as a timeline error to be eliminated rebels against the rules of time travel, risking his life, future and possibly time itself to save her.
Try it if you like: How to Stop Time or Dream Daughter.
Other titles to consider:
Thrillers
 As Long As We Both Shall Live - JoAnn Chaney -
Suspense.
Alternating timelines reveal his side, her side and the truth of a man who is either unlucky in love or a cold-blooded killer.
Married for over twenty years with two kids in college, Matt and Marie go on a romantic weekend hike when Marie plummets over a cliff and disappears. Matt insists it was an accident, but with nearby campers reporting hearing a woman screaming, detectives Marion Spengler and Ralphie Loren aren't so sure. When a body is recovered, the detectives must dig into Matt and Marie's pasts, finding secrets, betrayals and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Matt's first wife.
Try it if you like: Gillian Flynn.
Other titles to consider:
Beyond the Bestsellers
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