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Caged

Ellison Cooper (Minotaur)

In her debut thriller, Cooper, an anthropologist who has worked as a murder investigator in Washington, D.C., channels “equal parts Kathy Reichs and Thomas Harris” (according to Lisa Gardner). In the basement of a D.C. house, a woman is found dead in a cage—left to slowly starve to death in a cold and calculating experiment with no clear motive.

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Hope Never Dies

Andrew Shaffer (Quirk)

In this series debut, set a few months after the 2016 presidential election, Joe Biden turns amateur sleuth when his favorite Amtrak conductor dies in a suspicious accident. Naturally, Joe turns to his buddy Barack Obama for help on the case. This fantasy is perfect for those seeking escape from the realities of Washington, D.C., in 2018.

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Lying in Wait

Liz Nugent (Scout)

Late one night in 1980, a judge and his wife rendezvous with troubled prostitute Annie Doyle on a deserted Dublin beach. When Annie threatens blackmail, the couple kills her and hides the body. Irish author Nugent explores the consequences of this initially inexplicable crime over the years that follow in this utterly captivating psychological thriller.

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The Mystery of Three Quarters

Sophie Hannah (Morrow)

In bestselling author Hannah’s third Hercule Poirot mystery, an angry woman confronts the Belgian detective outside his London house and demands to know why he sent her a letter accusing her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she’s never heard of. Poirot is shocked—he has never heard of Barnabas Pandy either, nor did he send the woman the letter. Agatha Christie fans won’t want to miss this one.

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Our House

Louise Candlish (Berkley)

In this devastating novel of domestic suspense, Fiona Lawson and her soon-to-be ex-husband, Bram, agree to take turns living with their two young sons in the family house in London. Then one day Fiona arrives home to find Bram and their sons gone—and another couple moving in.

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The President Is Missing

Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Little, Brown and Knopf)

The children of American presidents—Elliott Roosevelt, Margaret Truman, Susan Ford—have produced mysteries about the occupants of the White House; now Bill Clinton becomes the first president to jump on the bandwagon, assisted by bestselling author James Patterson. When the president disappears, the world goes into shock. But the reason he’s missing is much worse than anyone could imagine.

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White River Burning: A Dave Gurney Novel

John Verdon (Counterpoint)

In the sixth outing for Dave Gurney, the ex–NYPD homicide detective tackles a racially charged murder in economically depressed White River, N.Y. A white cop is killed by a sniper on the anniversary of a controversial shooting of an African-American by a white police officer who claimed self-defense. Verdon brilliantly combines a baffling whodunit with thoughtfully drawn characters.

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The Word Is Murder

Anthony Horowitz (Harper)

A fictional version of the bestselling author and screenwriter plays Watson to consulting detective Daniel Hawthorne—an uncouth variation on Sherlock Holmes—in this clever mystery centered on the murder of a London society woman who arranged her own funeral just hours before she was strangled in her home. The chapter where Hawthorne barges in on Horowitz’s script conference with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson is alone worth the price of admission.

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