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Ep 489: Lisa Gardner Aug 11, 2026

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner join us to discuss her latest thriller, You’ll Be Sorry (Grand Central Publishing, Aug. 4). “A small-town sheriff uncovers centuries’ worth of secrets,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review. “Gardner deftly juggles a number of characters, plot threads, secrets, time periods, and motives, delivering a satisfyingly layered novel that interrogates the insular lives and histories of small towns.”

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This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively
Blood Moon Over Bentonville by Bernard Doucette
Death on Warriors Way by Dave Pyle
The Murder Investigation of Adolf Hitler by Peter Clenott
Dear Laura, A Lost Chapter of WWII by Laura Elliott

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Ep 488: Chris Bohjalian Aug 04, 2026

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian joins us to discuss his new novel, The Amateur (Doubleday, Aug. 4). “An accident at the golf course cuts short one life and totally upends another,” Kirkus writes in a starred review. “It’s hard to think of any reason not to call this a perfect novel—our critic writes—a hole in one.”

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This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively
Lifers by Keith G. McWalter
Chemstories by Maya Mourshed

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Ep 487: Julie Buntin Jul 28, 2026

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On this week’s episode, novelist Julie Buntin joins us to discuss Famous Men (Random House, July 14). “A personal and professional entanglement with an acclaimed writer shapes a young woman’s life,” kirkus writes in a starred review. Buntin’s stellar sophomore offering is “a searing, brilliant novel about power, and stories, and who gets to tell them.”

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The Book of Don by T.B. Calder
Dear Laura, A Lost Chapter of WWII by Laura Elliott
Blood Lasts Forever by Jeff Gunhus

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Ep 486: Colson Whitehead Jul 21, 2026

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On this week’s episode, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Colson Whitehead joins us to discuss Cool Machine (Doubleday, July 21). “Whitehead’s justly celebrated Harlem Trilogy comes to a triumphant, satisfying conclusion,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of Cool Machine, calling Whitehead “a master novelist in full command of his powers as a storyteller, prose stylist, and social observer.”

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Finding Our Voice by Adam Castillo

American Gyro by Jim Zervanos

The Needs of the Heart by Phillip Anderson

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Ep 485: Robinne Lee Jul 14, 2026

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On this week’s episode, internationally bestselling author Robinne Lee joins us to discuss her new novel, Crash Into Me (St. Martin’s, July 7). “After moving to Los Angeles, a biracial photographer navigates the complexities of celebrity, wealth, race, and her own past,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review of Crash Into Me, calling this “sharp and often slyly funny” novel “thoughtful social commentary meets sensual queer awakening among the Beautiful People.”

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Carrie’s Children by Clarence T. Jones
A Slaughter of Iguanas by Anne Loiselle

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Ep 484: Jessica Knoll Jul 07, 2026

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On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling author Jessica Knoll joins us to discuss her latest novel, Helpless (Scribner, July 7). “A Hollywood writer returns to her college town for a funeral only to get pulled back into the complicated relationships she left behind,” Kirkus writes in an admiring review of a scintillating novel that “puts the ‘erotic’ back in ‘erotic thriller.’”

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A Collection of Brevities by Patrick Summers
Surviving Life by Tom Schneider
An Endless Knot by Joe Elefante
Albrecht Drue, Ghostpuncher. by Paul D. Miller

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Ep 483: Jenny Jackson Jun 30, 2026

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On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling novelist Jenny Jackson joins us to discuss The Shampoo Effect (Pamela Dorman Books, June 30). Kirkus: “A beginning author gets in over her head, personally and professionally” in a winning novel that “combines a literary rom-com with an acute portrait of midlife among millennials.”

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A Name Unbroken by Donald Proffit
Alternate Sources by Lamar Brantley

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Ep 482: Eva zu Beck Jun 23, 2026

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On this week’s episode, Eva zu Beck joins us to discuss The Wilder Way: A Memoir of Adventure, Freedom, and an Uncharted Life (Gallery Books, June 2). In a starred review, Kirkus calls this bold debut by the YouTube adventurer and National Geographic TV host “an inspiring, action-packed journey to find one’s self through perilous adventures in exotic, far-flung destinations.”

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Sebastian and the Belgian Koala by Jill Charlotte Thomas, illus. by Parks Sadler
Death and All That Follows by Javier Piñol Serra
The Lodge Women, Their Men and Their Times by Emily Lodge

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Ep 481: Deb Olin Unferth Jun 16, 2026

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On this week’s episode, sponsored by Cambridge University Press, Deb Olin Unferth joins us to discuss her latest novel, Earth 7 (Graywolf, June 9), which Kirkus calls “a quirky, bold, and endearing masterpiece of climate fiction” (starred review).

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The Elephants in the Roomby Seth Masket (Cambridge University Press)

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Ep 480: Rosebud Baker Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

On this week’s episode, comedian and former SNL writer Rosebud Baker joins us to discuss Fully Baked: A Messy Memoir (Gallery Books, June 9. Kirkus: “A scathingly funny memoir about a late-bloomer’s wild ride from debauched youth to motherhood and comedy success.”

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Queen of the Styx by Buell Hollister
Diamonds and Roses, Vipers and Toads by Clark Thomas Carlton

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