Books to Anticipate for the Fall

My can't-wait books are usually different from the big splashy "press-sensation" books, so I'm adding my two cents, here, for the fall:

*"The Searcher." This actually will be a big splashy book. Tana French always gets buzz, sometimes more than the work deserves. You can anticipate a murder and a great deal of action; French has said she wanted to do a "market correction," because she felt her previous effort, "The Witch Elm," lacked action.

*"Still Life." No one reads Val McDermid. Well, I read Val McDermid. I think she is among the best thriller writers alive, much better than her colleague J.K. Rowling, who seems to borrow from her. (The Strike/Robin affair seems like a rewrite of McDermid's Carol/Tony saga, if someone had stripped McDermid of her talent.)

*"Cary Grant." Scott Eyman last wrote a wonderful book about Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda; now, we're getting Eyman's thoughts on Grant. Have you heard of Cary Grant? He was voted the second greatest (male) icon of Hollywood's Golden Age. He's so great, he made a well-liked Hitchcock movie, "Suspicion," and that one doesn't even crack the Cary Grant Top Fifteen, if you confer with the experts. I'm considering re-watching "The Awful Truth" and "Notorious," to get ready for this book. It's nice to have an excuse.....

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