Backlist Bumps: Moving to the Top of Your TBR Pile

There is something about the allure of a new book – it’s so hard to resist!  But, what about when you love a new book so much that it has you looking for more by the same author? I was having that discussion (online) earlier on this week about Missing White Woman, the new release from author Kellye Garrett.  My friend said that after checking out this buzzy new release she realized she had missed Garrett’s earlier book, Like A Sister, which was an Edgar Award finalist. Being a finalist for an Edgar award is a BFD in the mystery writing world!

When the body of reality TV star Desiree Pierce is found on a playground in the Bronx the morning after her twenty-fifth birthday party, the police and the media are quick to declare her death an overdose. A tragedy, certainly, but not a crime. Yet Columbia grad student Lena—principled, headstrong, and allergic to the spotlight—knows that can’t be the case. Despite the bitter truth that the two hadn’t spoken in two years, they were half-sisters. Lena knew Desiree. And Desiree would never travel above 125th Street. Something is very wrong with the facts. So why is no one listening? While the two sisters had been torn apart by Desiree’s partying and by their difficult father, Lena becomes determined to find justice for Desiree. Even if that means untangling her family’s darkest secrets—or ending up dead herself. You can read more and get your copy here.

This got me thinking about other authors who have some great earlier reads that are worth bumping up from the bottom of your TBR pile!

Author Jo Piazza’s newest true crime thriller, The Sicilian Inheritance, has another friend diving into Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win - my personal favorite by Piazza and our November 2018 Badass Women’s Book Club pick!

Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Reeling from a presidential election that shocked and divided the country and inspired to make a difference, she’s left her high-powered job in Silicon Valley and returned, with her husband and three young daughters, to her downtrodden Pennsylvania hometown to run for office in the Rust Belt state. Once the campaign gets underway, Charlotte is blindsided by just how dirty her opponent is willing to fight, how harshly she is judged by the press and her peers, and how exhausting it becomes to navigate a marriage with an increasingly ambivalent and often resentful husband. When the opposition uncovers a secret that could threaten not just her campaign but everything Charlotte holds dear, she must decide just how badly she wants to win and at what cost. You can read more and get your copy here.

Ann Patchett’s works are always big hits, including Tom Lake, her newest compelling family drama. I was a big fan of this earlier work…

One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them. You can read more and get your copy here.

It's no surprise that Ruth Riechel, Gourmet magazine’s former editor in chief, writes what have been described as “mouthwatering adventures”. Her newest release, The Paris Novel, is a delight! Save Me the Plums was a favorite 2020 book club pick! And not only because it has recipes!

When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America’s oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone’s boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no? This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat. Readers will meet legendary chefs like David Chang and Eric Ripert, idiosyncratic writers like David Foster Wallace, and a colorful group of editors and art directors who, under Reichl’s leadership, transformed stately Gourmet into a cutting-edge publication. This was the golden age of print media—the last spendthrift gasp before the Internet turned the magazine world upside down. Save Me the Plums is a personal journey of a woman coming to terms with being in charge and making a mark, following a passion and holding on to her dreams—even when she ends up in a place she never expected to be. You can read more and get your copy here.

Author and artist Cleo Wade newest book is May You Love and Be Loved: Wishes for Life, a new children’s book that comes out on Tuesday. Where to Begin: A Small Book about Your Power to Create Big Change was our book club pick for the tumultuous end of 2020. It still feels so timely! And, it makes a great graduation gift!

If you are ready to be a part of building a society rooted in love, acceptance, justice, and equality, Where to Begin is the ultimate inspirational guide. Building on the wisdom of Cleo Wade’s national bestseller Heart Talk, this heartfelt collection will help you stay connected to hope during difficult moments and remind you that no matter what, you still have the power to show up and effect positive change. You can read more and get your copy here.

Sometimes you know of an author for writing one type of book, so you are intrigued when the move into an entirely different genre! Long before she was known as an author of thrillers, Kate White was the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine. Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead... But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets Every Working Woman Must Know was something I read cover to cover! But now I’m a total fan of her thrillers, so I’ll definitely be reading this newest one that comes out later this month!

As Kiki Reed heads out to a party at a friend's house in the Connecticut countryside, she's more than a little nervous. Her ex-fiancé Jamie, a great guy who just wasn't "the one," will be attending, and she hasn't seen him since she broke his heart a few months earlier. But when they come face to face, their exchange is brief and pleasant, which is a huge relief. Then, as the party is winding down, a noise pierces the night. The last few guests run outside to find Jamie inside his car, dead from a gunshot wound. Shocked and grieving, Kiki learns that the police believe Jamie took his own life, but she knows he was moving on from the breakup and just doesn't believe it. Determined to find the truth, she searches for any evidence that will get the police to take her seriously. But as she peels away the layers, she uncovers something far more sinister than she'd imagined--and it may be her life on the line next. You can read more and get your copy here.