JUDGMENT CALL: A Joanna Brady Mystery

From New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance comes the next exciting mystery featuring Sheriff Joanna Brady. Last seen with J.P. Beaumont in FIRE AND ICE (2009) and solo in DAMAGE CONTROL (2008), Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady returns to solve a crime set against the rugged backdrop of the American Southwest. When her daughter, Jenny, stumbles across the body of her murdered high school principal, Joanna is caught in the difficult middle ground of being both a sheriff and a mother. In the process she’s forced to face the possibility that her perfect daughter, Jennifer Ann Brady, may not be so perfect anymore. William Morrow

Estimated length: 384 pages

Manuscript available
Kaplan, Andrew

*SCORPION WINTER

“One of the smartest, swiftest and most compelling spy novels I’ve read in years. – Harlan Coben on SCORPION BETRAYAL

“In this exciting follow-up to SCORPION, Kaplan pits the deadly CIA agent known as Scorption against the terrorist known as the Palestinian…The nonstop action will keep readers racing through the pages and hoping that Kaplan will put Scorpion back into action as soon as possible.” – Publishers Weekly on SCORPION BETRAYAL

On the heels of the publication of SCORPION BETRAYAL (April 2012) comes the next novel featuring the brilliant and electrifying action hero, Scorpion. He’s lethal, highly intelligent, and a man with his own moral code. While Scorpion is hiding away in an idyllic farmhouse on the island of Sardinia, a stranger steps off a Russian yacht and leaves a message for him at the local harbor. The stranger is a Russian billionaire who is seeking Scorpion’s help in preventing the assassination of the president in the Ukraine, Cherkesov. Before he can get too far, Cherkesov dies in a bomb attack and Scorpion is seen nearby and presumed to be one of the assassins. On the run with a woman who has promised to help him – a political operative who also knows her way around firearms – Scorpion must find the real killers before authorities find him, and before the situation and political misunderstandings escalate among the NATO allies and adversaries and the world erupts on an all-out war. Andrew Kaplan has worked as a war correspondent for the International Herald Tribune. He is the author of four previous thrillers, and his film writing career includes the James Bond film GoldenEye. This is the second book in a series that promises to develop into a major publishing franchise. Harper Mass Market

Estimated length: 352 pages

Manuscript available
Kaplan, Hester

*THE TELL

Flannery O’Connor award-winning writer Hester Kaplan delivers an elegant, subtle, and haunting novel about love and marriage, which demands that we consider how we choose to stay with or leave those we love. When Wilton Deere, a once-famous and still wealthy TV actor, moves in next door, Mira and Owen’s young and fragile marriage begins a slow and deliberate unraveling. Hungry for attention and connection, Wilton quickly becomes part of the younger couple’s life. Unsettled by their new neighbor, disturbed by a friend’s violent death, doubting his worth as public school teacher, Owen turns to his wife in his need, only to learn that Mira has disappeared into a secret life of casinos and slot machines—always accompanied by Wilton. As surprising discoveries push husband and wife further apart, the two must confront the new reality of their marriage and discover whether they can weather a storm of their own making. Told with painterly detail and psychological complexity, THE TELL shows us what we assume yet don’t know about the people we love, and the intimate ways we reveal ourselves before we act. Hester Kaplan is the author of THE EDGE OF MARRIAGE, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and a novel, KINSHIP THEORY. She teaches creative writing at Lesley University. Harper Perennial

Estimated length: 320 pages

Manuscript available
Kargman, Jill

THE ROCK STAR IN SEAT 3A

Jill Kargman, New York Times bestselling author of THE EX-MRS. HEDGEFUND and MOMZILLAS, returns with this lively novel about a down-to-earth New York City girl who suddenly finds herself in a rock ‘n’ roll Cinderella fantasy. It’s Hazel’s 30th birthday and she has everything she’s ever wanted: a kickass job at a video-game company, a dream New York City apartment, and the perfect boyfriend—who also happens to be a personal chef, and has just proposed in the most romantic way. With good food, video games and love, Hazel thinks she’s happy—but not ready to get married. The morning after her birthday, Hazel leaves for a business trip and receives a surprise upgrade to first class, boards the plane, and sees the person in seat 7B: it’s her celebrity crush, rock star Finn Schiller. Just the night before, she had confessed her infatuation with Finn at her birthday party, and her boyfriend joked that she had a free pass if she ever met him. Hazel can’t believe fate has actually thrown them together. Even more unbelievable is the flight that follows, as they genuinely connect—even after he sees her vomit due to plane turbulence. Finn likes her uncensored cursing, wicked sense of humor, and that she’s not like all his groupies; Hazel likes his killer looks, ripped physique and soulful music. What started as a fantasy quickly becomes a real attraction, and after a dream date and taste of the rock-star life with Finn in Los Angeles, Hazel is forced to examine the track her life is on. Could she ever forgive herself if she walked away from her wildest dreams coming true? Seasoned with her signature wit and hilarious dialogue, Jill Kargman presents a fairytale romance with a twist. Jill Kargman is the author of the book of essays, SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A NUT and novels including WOLVES IN CHIC CLOTHING and THE EX-MRS. HEDGEFUND. In addition to her bestselling books, the author’s work has appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Elle, and more. William Morrow

MOMZILLAS sold: Croatian/Algoritam; Dutch/Sijthoff; German/Ullstein; French/Fleuve Noir; Italian/Sonzogno; Polish/Nasza Ksiegarnia; Portuguese (Brazil)/Editora Planeta do Brasil; Russian/AST; UK/HarperCollins UK

Estimated length: 208 pages

Galley available
Kline, Christina Baker

*THE TRAIN RIDER

Molly Ayer has one last chance, and she knows it.  Close to being kicked out of her foster home -- just months from turning 18 and "aging out" of the system -- Molly should be grateful that her boyfriend found her a community service project: helping an old lady clean out her home.  Molly can't help but think that the 50 hours will be tedious, but at least they'll keep her out of juvie, and right now that's all she cares about.  Ninety-one-year-old Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine for decades.  But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are keys to a turbulent past.  Molly is about to discover -- as she and Vivian unpack her possessions, and memories -- that Vivian's story is a piece of America's tumultuous history now largely forgotten: the tale of a young Irish immigrant, orphaned in New York City and put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other orphaned children whose destiny would be determined by luck and chance.  As Molly digs deeper, she finds surprising parallels between Vivian’s story and her own experience as a Native American -- and realizes that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life.  THE TRAIN RIDER is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendships, and of the secrets that keep us from finding out who we really are. Christina Baker Kline was born in Cambridge, England and grew up in England, Tennessee, and Maine. She holds a B.A. in English from Yale and earned an M.A. in Literature from Cambridge while working for the journal Granta.  Her previous novels include BIRD IN HAND and THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE. William Morrow

Estimated length: 288 pages

Manuscript available

Klise, Kate

Estimated length: 320 pages

Galley available
Koethe, John

*ROTC Kills

In the tradition of Wordsworth, Wallace Stevens, and John Ashbery, a lyrical and meditative new collection of poems from the renowned John Koethe, the most recent winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize for the year’s outstanding work of poetry. “I’ve always thought of poetry as a kind of inner soliloquy, reflecting the capacity for self-consciousness that makes us human,” says John Koethe. In this new book, Koethe’s poems move easily between autobiographical anecdote and philosophical reflection. Koethe received an Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has won the prestigious Kingsley Tufts Award. His NORTH POINT NORTH: New and Selected Poems was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Harper Perennial

Estimated length: 96 pages

Manuscript available: April 2012
Kultgen, Chad

*AVERAGE AMERICAN MARRIAGE

“An appalling book we couldn’t put down.” -- Penthouse on THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MALE

At last, the long awaited sequel to Chad Kultgen’s controversial phenomenon THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MALE -- a new novel marking the return of Kultgen’s blithely, unforgettably raunchy narrator … now married with children. Five years later, he still revels in objectifying women, killing time with video games, and stealing any remaining idle moments to pleasure himself. Now, however, he must face life as a married man and father – from birthday sex to interns to parenting – and he does so with the same deadpan smirk he has always brought to his sex-addled, disaffected life. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MARRIAGE takes satire to new depths of cockeyed depravity – while adding a new chapter to Kultgen’s unique take on the never-ending battle of the sexes. Harper Perennial
AVERAGE AMERICAN MALE sold: Croatian/Algoritam; Danish/ArtPeople; Italian/Newton Compton; UK/HC-UK
Publication: February 2013 (CB)

Estimated length: 288 pages

Manuscript available: June 2012

Lowell, Elizabeth

Estimated length: 384 pages

Manuscript available
McBride, Susan

*THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE AND LIGHTNING

Susan McBride has crafted another spectacular novel about what happens when the stories we tell come home to roost. Gretchen Bank has always gotten away with telling little white lies, even one she’s been telling for nearly forty years. She was sure she’d gotten away with it until a tornado rips through her land and a man with no memory surfaces. The same day her grown daughter returns with news that she’s pregnant. Abby Brink is sure that the mysterious man is her long-lost father Sam, finally coming home when she needs him. As Abby, Gretchen, and Sam get closer, the lie she told all those years ago begin to haunt Gretchen. The fragile life they’ve built is in danger when the secret comes out, and Sam’s past is revealed. William Morrow Paperbacks

Estimated length: 320 pages

Manuscript available: April 2012
McCleary, Kathleen

A SIMPLE THING

From the critically acclaimed author of HOUSE AND HOME comes a beautiful and heart-warming novel about family, friendship and one woman’s drastic measure to keep her family safe. When Susannah Delaney decides her over-scheduled East Coast kids have had enough and takes them to the rustic San Juan Islands to live for a year, she has no idea whether the experience will help them or drive them further apart. They are trapped on a tiny island with no internet, no friends, and a ramshackle house. It’s the perfect, simple life. But, as Susannah Delaney soon discovers, a simpler life doesn’t mean that love and family are any simpler. William Morrow Paperbacks

Estimated length: 304 pages

Manuscript available
McElhatton, Heather

*JENNIFER JOHNSON IS SICK OF BEING MARRIED

From the author of the highly successful PRETTY LITTLE MISTAKES and the raucous and edgy JENNIFER JOHNSON IS SICK OF BEING SINGLE, comes the next page in the story of Jennifer Johnson, an everywoman whose every thought, flaw and neurosis is on display. No longer stuck in a cubicle and love-lorn, but still addicted to Cinnabons, Jennifer quickly learns that the grass is not always greener on the other side. After a honeymoon from hell at a gated Christian resort in the Virgin Islands – bought and paid for by her in-laws and complete with alcohol-free drinks, Jennifer finds herself in a bizarre new life. Soon she is organizing Valentine’s Day Abstinence dances with her mother-in-law’s church committee, sewing “size 4” into her clothes because she can’t reveal the truth to her husband, and dining with “trophy wives” who have their own theories about how to hold on to their men. This is a laugh-out-loud, no-holds barred lesson about the “good life” and how getting what you want most might be the worst thing for you. William Morrow Paperbacks

Estimated length: 304 pages

Manuscript available
Noble, Shelley

BEACH COLORS

While Margaux Sullivan was presenting her highly praised M Atelier collection at New York City’s Fashion Week, her husband of thirteen years cleaned out their bank account and disappeared.  A week later the bank foreclosed on her apartment and business.  Suddenly broke, betrayed, and humiliated, Margaux returns to her hometown, the small, coastal town of Crescent Cove, CT. Margaux just wants to be left alone, but friends and family have different plans. Encouraged by her widowed mother and challenged by her childhood friends, Margaux begins to design a new line of clothes, gradually regaining her place in the world of fashion. Meanwhile, Nick Prescott left his job as a college professor to return home to care for his nephew Connor, taking the role of interim police chief in Crescent Cove while he tries to sort out Connor’s troubles after the loss of Nick’s brother in Iraq.  Just when he is finally settling in to his new role in the town he never thought he would come back to, he stops Margaux for speeding. Nick recognizes her immediately; she was the beautiful girl who summered at the beach and never noticed the “townie” boy.  But he’s no longer a boy, and he’s no longer content to love her from afar. A chance to return to New York as a top designer threatens Margaux’s new-found happiness, and Margaux must make the most important decision of her life.  Similar to Jane Green’s The Beach House or Kristin Hannah’s The Things We Do for Love, Shelley Noble’s debut novel is a story about broken dreams, new beginnings, and the power of love to transform what we might have been into what we can become. William Morrow Paperbacks

Estimated length: 368 pages

Galley available
O’Donnell, Lisa

*THE DEATH OF BEES

"The most compelling and incredible piece of writing I’ve come across in years.”  – Helen Fitzgerald, author of Dead Lovely

A stunning debut novel from award-winning screenwriter Lisa O’Donnell. Fifteen-year-old Marnie and her younger sister Nelly have just finished burying their parents in the back garden. Only they know what happened, although Lennie, the old guy living next-door, has taken a sudden interest in his two young neighbors. He realizes they are alone, and need his help. Soon, their friends, and neighbors, and the authorities—not to mention the local drug dealer, who’s been sniffing around for their father—start asking questions. As one lie leads to another, darker secrets about Marnie’s family come to light, making things even more complicated. Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, and told in three strong narrative voices, THE DEATH OF BEES is an enchanting and grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other. Lisa O’Donnell won the Orange Prize for Screenwriting for her screenplay, The Wedding Gift, and has been shortlisted for numerous others. Harper
Rights sold: Italy/Newton Compton; UK/Vintage
Publication: March 2013 (CB)

Estimated length: 320 pages

Manuscript available
O’Reilly, Sean

PIXIES

Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Tony Bancroft, the mastermind behind The Lion King, PIXIES is a luscious graphic novel—the story of lonely Joe Beck, a walking accident looking for love, and the meddling pixies controlling his life. Joe Beck is plagued with bad luck. His alarms never go off in the morning. His bathroom drain is always clogged, his toothbrush always breaks, and he frequently slips in the shower. On a regular day, Joe trips, walks into walls, and breaks things he touches. He’s a buffoon at the family business and his social life is non-existent. So what did Joe do to deserve this bad luck? The answer lies with a tribe of pixies, sprightly, mischievous creatures, responsible for the unfortunate events that define his every day. This beautifully illustrated graphic novel chronicles Joe’s attempt to live a normal life, to win the heart of the woman he loves, to find out the source of the pixies’ aggression and compose himself to overtake it. Sean O’Reilly is the founder and C.E.O. of Arcana Studio, Canada’s largest comic book company. He is the author of THE CLOCKWORK GIRL, and the creator of a number of highly successful comics including KADE and EZRA, whose characters have been used in more than 250,000 comics and books, and published in eleven countries. Sean lead Arcana to win the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Publisher, and to be nominated for a Harvey Award in its first year, a feat unheard of in the quarter century tenure of the award. Harper Design

Estimated length: 136 pages; four-color throughout

Sample material available
Phillips, Susan Elizabeth

*THE GREAT ESCAPE

New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Susan Elizabeth Phillips delivers a brand new, hilarious romance and sequel to CALL ME IRRESISTIBLE. Lucy Jorik is the daughter of the former President of the United States. She’s been on the run ever since the day of her wedding—the wedding she didn’t go through with to the fiancé who eventually married her best friend. Lucy accepts a ride from an incredibly handsome, mysterious stranger on a motorcycle, and begins a new phase of life that she never expected. William Morrow
UK rights: HarperCollins US; Translation: The Axelrod Agency
Publication: July 2012 (CB)

Estimated length: 384 pages

Manuscript available
Saul, Jamie

THE FIRST WARM EVENING OF THE YEAR: A Novel

Critical acclaim for LIGHT OF DAY:

“An intellectual thriller laced with subtle clues throughout its gracious prose.” —Chicago Tribune Books

“An exhilarating emotional roller-coaster ride. There’s some powerful writing at work here, the rare kind able to pull you smack-dab into somebody else’s damaged psyche. . . . Light of Day is one of those debut novels that delivers the goods with style and compassion.” —Washington Post Book World

“An emotional novel about a man whose future has been altered by an unthinkable tragedy.” —Denver Post

From the author of the critically acclaimed LIGHT OF DAY, comes a compelling new novel that explores the complex, intricate relationships between siblings; the loss for the passions of life, and how those passions can be rekindled; and that true love can be discovered in the most unexpected places. When Geoffrey Tremont is asked to be the executor to the estate of Laura Wells, a college friend with whom he has not spoken for more than twenty years, he obliges even though Laura leaves no explanation for her request. But as he begins to sort through the remaining lose ends of his friend’s life in Shady Grove, NY, and encounters the people who were most influential in her life—particularly her best friend, Marian—he finds that he is learning more about himself than anyone else. William Morrow

Estimated length: 304 pages

Book available
Sheehan, Jacqueline